*x  AP 


U-TIIMEROF 


HEO'SOPin 


el 


TO  THE  READER: 

To  extend  the  knowledge  of  THE- 
OSOPHY  this  little  book  is  pub- 
lished by  the  American  Section  of  the 
Theosophical  Society  at  a  net  cost  of 
ij  cents  a   copy,  postage  paid  within 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Presented    \^y\J^<^\e.r-  ^S  a\^    CJAqo  K  . 


0\  Y-\       ^     )~  ^ 

BP  565  .T53  1909 
Theosophical  Society 

(Madras,  India).  American 
A  primer  of  theosophy 


^ostofficc    money    order    and    ".i'C    zinll 
mail  ihc  book  at  once. 


H.    P.    JJl.AVATSKY 

Founder  of  the  TlieosopJiical  Society 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Theosophy— A\^at   It   Is 5 

Theosophy  and  Religion 8 

Theosophy  and  An  Ethical  Code 10 

Man  and  His  Bodies 1- 

Astral  Inhabitants '-1 

Non-Human  Inhabitants    25 

Astral  Phenomena   27 

The  Heaven  World 36 

Thought  Forms 38 

The  Buddhic  Plane    41 

Re-incarnation 43 

Karma   43 

Clairvoyance    48 

Psychometry    49 

Telepathy   49 

Psychical  Research    49 

The  Structure  of  Matter 54 

Theosophy  and  Spiritualism 58 

Theosophy  and  Masonry 61 

The    Theosophic   Life 62 

The  Care  of  the  Body 62 

The  Search  for  the  Master 67 

Activities  During  Sleep 69 

Meditation    71 

Renunciation    77 

The  Masters  of  Wisdom 80 

The  Hierarchy 82 

What  Theosophy  Does  for  Us 85 

The   History  of  the   Society 110 

The  Objects  of  the  Society 112 

H.  P.  Blavatsky 114 

H.  S.  Olcott 116 

Mrs.  Annie   Besant 117 

Mr.  C.  W.  Leadbeater 118 

Mr.  C.  Jinarajadasa 119 

Courses  of  Reading 120 

Names  of  Lodges 123 

Study  Classes   127 

Joining  the  Society 127 

Forming  a  Lodge 127 

Lodge  Membership  128 

Membership  at  Large 128 


^  CLEAN  life,  an  open  mind,  a 
pure  heart,  an  eager  intellect^ 
an  unveiled  spiritual  perception,  a 
brotJierliness  for  all,  a  readiness  to 
give  and  receive  advice  and  instruc- 
tion, a  courageous  endurance  of 
personal  injustice,  a  brave  declaration 
of  principles,  a  valiant  defence  of 
those  zi'ho  are  unjustly  attacked, 
and  a  constant  eye  to  the  ideal  of 
human  progression  and  perfection 
which  the  Sacred  Science  depicts — 
these  are  the  golden  stairs  up  the 
steps  of  which  the  learner  may  climb 
to  the  Temple  of  Divine  Wisdom, 
H,  P.   Blavatsky. 


A  PRIMER  OF  THEOSOPHY 


Theosophy  is  a  word  that  comes  from  the  Greek 
words  meaning  Divine  Wisdom.  The  divine  wisdom  is 
that  which  teaches  man  the  way  to  reach  God  by  grow- 
ing into  his  image  and  likeness,  "developing  the  deific 
powers  within  him."  But  it  is  also  the  wisdom  or 
knowledge  which  includes  all  other  knowledge,  which 
means  all  the  sciences,  forms  of  philosophy  and  ethics, 
as  would  necessarily  be  the  case  if,  as  we  affirm,  it  came 
from  the  Logos  or  God  of  our  solar  system  through  His 
agents.  Theosophy,  then,  may  be  considered  as  science, 
religion,  philosophy  and  ethics  as  seen  from  God's  point 
of  view.  This  w^ould  also  further  mean  they  were  to  be 
considered  not  solely  from  the  point  of  view  of  their 
present  status,  but  also  from  that  of  their  origin  and 
their  destiny.  We  shall  present  the  subject  in  very 
brief  outline  under  these  four  headings,  referring  read- 
ers at  frequent  intervals  to  the  works  which  deal  in 
authoritative  detail  with  the  subjects  touched  upon. 

Theosophy  as  Science  at  once  gives  the  origin  of 
science,  its  rationale,  its  future  and  the  synthesis  of  its 
parts.  It  considers  all  material  and  spiritual  things 
within  the  solar  system  as  made  up  of  two  elements, 
the  form  and  the  life  which  dwells  within  it.     These 


A    PRUIER   OF   TUEO^OPUY 

elements  are  present  as  the  result  of  the  outpouring  of 
the  will  of  the  God  or  Logos  of  our  solar  system  in  the 
process  of  creation. 

The  outpourings  of  the  Logos  are  three:  first,  the 
building  up  of  matter  to  make  the  planes  or  worlds; 
second,  producing  within  them  life  as  in  mineral,  veg- 
etable and  animal  forms;  the  third  outpouring  or  dis- 
charge of  energy  is  an  outpouring  of  love  creating  egos 
that  are  to  evolve. 

Natural  Science  is  the  orderly  presentation  of  the 
facts  pertaining  to  manifested  or  visible,  tangible  nature. 
Theosophy  begins  its  study  with  the  apprehension  of 
the  life,  its  destiny  and  purpose  as  determined  by  the 
Creator  and  His  Agents. 

The  first  fact  or  series  of  facts  which  must  be  borne 
in  mind  while  studying  Theosophy  is  this,  that  the 
Nature  which  we  see,  smell,  touch,  taste  and  hear  about 
us  is  but  a  minor  part  of  Nature  as  it  really  exists. 
For  the  greater  part  of  Nature  is  entirely  hidden  from 
our  ordinary  observation,  which  takes  cognizance  of 
what  may  reasonably  be  called  only  the  negative  or 
reflected  side  of  things.  To  gain  a  knowledge  of  the 
hidden  side  is  to  get  first  a  conviction  that  there  is  such 
a  side,  then  the  knowledge  that  there  is  a  known  way 
in  existence  by  which  this  hidden  side  may  be  contacted, 
and,  in  the  third  place,  to  come  into  contact  with  Those 
Who  can  teach  the  methods  by  which  this  knowledge 
may  be  put  into  practical  application. 

The  world  is  many  millions  of  years  old  and  in  much 
earlier  days  there  came  to  our  earth  Great  Beings  from 
the  Planet  Venus,  who  gave  men  the  rudiments  of  mind 
and  taught  them  how  to  think.  From  them  was  de- 
rived the  Ancient  Wisdom  or  knowledge.  They  knew 
definitely  because  they  had  investigated  and  experi- 
mented at  first  hand. 

Theosophy  postulates  distinctly  the  notion  that  there 
is  everywhere  in  the  world,  simultaneously  in  existence, 
not  only  such  gross  matter  as  we  know  from  our  daily 

6 


THEO SOPHY  AS  SCIEXCE 

observation,  but  also  ethers  or  very  finely  attenuated 
matter  partaking  of  the  nature  of  gases  but  infinitely 
finer,  subtler.  They  exist  in  great  tenuity,  some  for  one 
and  others  for  other  purposes,  but  of  different  degrees  of 
fineness.  These  ethers  are  used,  some  to  transmit  light 
and  other  forces,  and  others  to  form  coverings  or  bodies 
for  the  ego  or  I. 

There  are  seven  great  realms  or  planes  of  Nature, 
three  of  which,  the  most  exal.ed,  are  almost  unknown 
to  man.  We  know  that  these  three  exist.  But  we 
have  not  been  told  much  about  them.  The  four  lower 
planes  are  those  with  which  we  are  chiefly  concerned. 
They  are  the  physical  (with  which  we  are  most  ac- 
quainted), the  astral,  the  mental  and  the  buddhic.  The 
beginner  in  the  study  of  Theosophy  must  take  pains  to 
get  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  the  word 
plane  in  the  theosophic  sense.  A  plane  is  a  realm  of 
Nature  of  which  the  matter  is  of  a  certain  quality  or 
grossness.  The  physical  plane  embraces  all  solids, 
liquids,  gases  and  some  of  the  lower  grades  of  ethers. 
These  we  call  the  sub-planes  of  the  physical.  The  astral 
plane  has  only  the  finer  and  astral  ethers  in  it  and  SO 
its  inhabitants  and  forms  are  not  visible  to  the  senses 
as  ordinarily  developed.  The  same  is  true  of  the  mental 
and  buddhic  and  other  higher  planes.  , 

Although  the  senses  which  men  ordinarily  possess  in 
normal  development  are  adequate  for  the  work  of  the 
lowest  or  physical  plane,  they  are  not  so  for  the  re- 
quirements of  the  higher  levels  of  consciousness.  They 
do  not  suffice  for  the  investigations  of  even  the  lowest 
plane  itself.  For  the  undeveloped  man  may  not  know 
more  of  the  upper  sub-planes  of  the  physical  plane  than 
he  can  learn  by  reasoning  from  the  observations  which 
he  makes  upon  the  things  of  the  lowest  sub-planes. 

But  there  are  ways  by  which  the  objects  of  the  higher 
planes  and  their  inter-relations  may  be  cognized  or 
manipulated,  and  it  is  one  of  the  purposes  of  Theoso- 
phists  to  know  and  to  teach  to  those   who  are   pre- 


A   PRIMER  OF  THE080PHY 

pared  for  such  knowledge  and  its  use,  the  beginnings  of 
the  way  by  which  such  faculties  are  developed.  It  is  a 
fact  that  the  power  to  develop  the  faculty  of  contacting 
the  things  of  these  hidden  planes  lies  latent  in  man. 
When  he  has  acquired  the  power  to  do  this  he  is  free 
at  any  moment  to  feel,  to  know,  to  think  of  the  things 
of  the  higher  departments  of  being,  and  to  do  things  for 
humanity  and  its  development  of  which  unevolved  men 
could  not  dream.  He  may,  indeed,  take  part  in  the 
development  of  the  souls  of  men  individually  and  col- 
lectively and  he  may  guide  the  civilizations  and  races 
of  men  in  their  evolution,  enabling  them  to  attain  far 
higher  ground  than  would  otherwise  be  the  case.  As  we 
shall  see,  this  ideal  is  not  attainable  without  great' 
sacrifice  and  labor  and  but  few  can  enter  upon  the  the 
way  that  leads  to  this  goal  until  all  humanity  has 
progressed  to  the  place  at  which  more  opportunities 
may  be  afforded  for  such  progress  and  the  conditions 
become  somewhat  easier  than  they  now  are.  Meantime 
our  people  are  learning  more  and  more  of  the  ancient 
wisdom,  and,  rejoicing  in  its  charm,  its  completeness,  its~ 
symmetry,  the  perfection  of  all  its  parts  as  explanatory 
of  God's  plan.  They  are  happier,  wiser  and  better  than 
they  were  before,  and  in  future  lives,  they,  too,  will 
become  practised  occultists,  having  found  those  Teachers 
*W^ho  are  to  carry  them  on  to  a  closer  knowledge  of 
God.  (W.  V-H.) 

Theosophy  and  Religion.  One  of  the  most  striking 
concepts  Theosophy  offers  is  that  underlying  the  many 
religions  is  one  natural  truth  stated  in  as  many  different 
ways.  As  the  ray  of  sunlight  is  broken  up  by  the  prism 
into  the  seven  prismatic  colours,  so,  too,  the  one  body 
of  natural  truth  concerning  the  relation  of  man  to  the 
cosmos  appears  in  different  forms  through  the  different 
religions.  The  Theosophist  notes  in  the  study  of  any 
one  religion  three  elements:  one  is  due  to  primitive  and 
faulty  conception  of  natural  phenomena;  a  second  is  an 
element  of  fundamental  truth  which  was  implanted  in 

8 


THEOSOPHY  AND   RELIGIONS 

it  by  a  great  religious  teacher;  and  a  third  is  a  theology 
raised  on  both  long  after  the  days  of  the  Founder  of  the 
Religion.  Noting  these  three  elements  in  a  religion,  the 
Theosophist  continually  searches  for  the  second  group 
of  ideas,  and  when  he  finds  these  he  finds  that  they  are 
not  so  radically  different  from  the  same  element  to  be 
found  in  other  religions. 

The  great  religions  of  the  world  were  given  to  the 
various  races  by  the  Adept  guardians  of  humanity, 
either  themselves  personally  appearing  as  the  founder 
of  a  religion,  as  did  Krishna,  Buddha,  and  Christ,  or  by  in- 
spiring some  lesser  person  to  state  just  so  much  of  the 
truth  as  was  sufficient  to  lead  the  people  to  whom  it 
was  given  a  few  steps  further  in  their  advancement. 
No  one  religion  has  a  monopoly  of  the  whole  truth,  but 
all  the  great  religions  are  needed  to  help  souls  in  their 
progress  through  reincarnations  on  earth.  James  Rus- 
sell Lowell  expresses  the  Theosophist's  attitude  to  the 
religions,  in  these  beautiful  words: 
"God  sends  his  teachers  unto  every  age, 

To  every  clime,  and  every  race  of  men, 

With  revelations  fitted  to  their  growth 

And  shape  of  mind,  nor  gives  the  realm  of  truth 

Into  the  selfish  rule  of  one  sole  race." 

The  Christian  who  studies  Theosophy  does  not  cease 
to  be  a  Christian  because  he  sees  a  larger  truth,  but  he 
takes  up  the  study  of  his  own  religion  from  the  new 
standpoint,  and  sees  in  it  a  deeper,  more  abiding,  and 
more  reasonable  truth  than  he  ever  heard  proclaimed 
from  the  pulpits.  The  Theosophical  Society  numbers 
among  its  members  Hindus,  Buddhists,  Mohammedans, 
Zoroastrians,  and  Christians,  and  it  is  the  testimony  of 
these  members  that  after  the  study  of  Theosophy  each 
takes  up  the  study  of  his  own  religion  with  greater  en- 
thusiasm than  ever  before,  finding  in  it  new  and  un- 
dreamt of  inspiration,  and  a  greater  devotion  to  the 
founder  of  his  religion.  (C-  J.) 

Theosophy  as  a  Philosophy  explains  the  origin,  the 

9 


A    PRIMER   OF   THE080PHY 

meaning  and  destiny  of  the  objects,  facts  and  beings  of 

all   planes  and  shows  thoughts  themselves   as  concrete 

objects,  the  product  of  action  by  the  Thinker,  the  Ego 

1  or  I,  and  tells  how  the  "I"  is  related  to  the  Universal 

!  Creator,  a  part  of  Him,  and  living  in  Him.    All  philoso- 

'   phies  are  therefore  embraced  in  Theosophy.    We  do  not 

maintain  that  all  scientific  and  philosophic  knowledge 

is  contained  in  our  written  books,  but  we  show  that  a 

place  is  there  for  it  all,  and  that  there  is  no  lack  in  the 

scheme  for  the  setting  of  not  only  every  scientific  fact, 

but  for  all  departments  of  philosophy  and  all  that  has 

been  thought  out  about  it  by  men. 

Just  as  Theosophy  shows  the  common  groundwork  of 
al;  religions,  so,  too,  it  shows  us  how  the  various  phil- 
osophical systems  of  the  East  and  West  are  partial  ex- 
pressions of  the  one  great  truth.  The  Vedanta,  the 
Sankhya,  and  others  of  India,  the  different  philosophical 
schools  of  Greece,  the  modern  German  philosophers, 
Kant,  Fichte,  Hegel  and  Schopenhauer,  are  all  dealing 
with  the  same  fundamental  facts  of  the  relation  that 
the  human  consciousness  as  a  unit  has  to  the  totality 
of  consciousness  of  Divinity.  The  student  of  Theosophy, 
in  studying  these  various  philosophies  notes  their  dif- 
ferences, but  with  the  aid  of  Theosophy  he  sees  that 
all  that  is  fundamental  in  a  particular  philosophical 
school  is  like  one  facet  in  a  diamond  with  many  facets, 
all  refracting  a  definite  group  of  vibrations  which  we 
call  the  white  ray  of  sunlight.  As  there  is  a  unity  un- 
derlying the  different  religions,  so  is  there  a  unity 
underlying  the  many  philosophies,  and  Theosophy  shows 
what  that  unity  is.  (W.  V-H.) 

Theosophy  teaches  an  ethical  code  which  shows  men 
how,  in  a  few  lives,  they  may  hasten  their  evolution 
until  they  can  reach  a  direct  knowledge  of  God,  which 
is  the  true  goal  of  all  existence,  knowledge,  philosophy 
and  ethics.  In  essence  the  goal  is  reached  by  recogniz- 
ing the  unsatisfying  character  of  the  oojects  of  personal 
desire,  laying  these  aside  and  living  only  for  the  highest, 

10 


THEOSOPHY  AXD  ETHICS 

that  Self  which  is  in  union  with  God,  by  laboring 
ceaselessly  for  the  spiritual  uplifting  of  men,  who  are 
regarded  as  being  but  apparently  separated  from  one 
another  in  bodies  though  really  their  egos  are  united 
in  God.  When  a  man  studies  and  accepts  the  truths  of 
Theosophy  he  is  a  theosophist.  He  may  become  then 
an  aspirant  for  a  more  intimate  association  with  a 
Master,  then  successively  a  probationary  pupil,  an  ac- 
cepted pupil  or  chela,  and,  finally  an  initiate  of  the 
Great  White  Lodge,  when  he  is  said  to  be  upon  the 
Path  of  Holiness.  It  is  then  that,  though  living  in  the 
world,  he  is  at  heart  a  man  of  God  and  day  by  day 
seeks  unceasingly  to  know  Him.  He  begins  his  training 
as  an  occultist  and  at  last  a  practical  knowledge  of  the 
occult  is  communicated  to  him  by  his  Master.  Through 
life  after  life  he  works,  always  under  such  a  supervision 
by  his  Teacher  as  one  could  scarce  dream  of,  until  after 
centuries  of  such  labor  for  humanity  he  himself  reaches 
the  end.  Union  with  the  consciousness  of  the  Master 
is  then  complete  and  the  pupil  himself  becomes  an 
Adept  knowing  God  and  living  and  rejoicing  in  His 
service. 

The  beginner  ought  not  to  be  discouraged  by  the 
length  of  this  pathway.  It  does  not  matter,  from  one 
point  of  view,  how  many  years  are  consumed  in  making 
,this  journey  and  the  way  is  provided,  prepared  in  every 
way,  the  difficulties  are  all  foreseen  and  the  disciple  is 
carefully  led.  The  principle  of  re-incarnation  is  pe- 
culiarly applied  in  such  cases,  the  pupil  being  almost 
always  permitted  to  return  to  a  new  body  immediately 
or  within  a  very  few  years  after  leaving  the  old  one. 
In  this  way  he  is  able  to  maintain  his  activity  and  in- 
terest in  many  of  the  works  in  which  he  was  engaged 
before  leaving  the  body,  and  he  is  able  to  help  and 
cheer  at  times  many  of  his  former  friends.  All  the 
pathway  is  filled  with  interesting  work  which  the 
Master  turns  to  good  account  for  the  helping  of  men 
in  those  great  armies  in  which  their  evolution  is  pro- 

11 


A   PRIMER  OF  THEOSOPHT 

ceeding.  But  there  are  difficulties  in  this  service  which 
are  very  great  and  those  whose  hearts  are  set  upon  the 
opinion  of  the  world  need  not  expect  to  find  conditions 
quite  to  their  liking  on  the  Path.  But  such  people  need 
not  fear  that  they  will  be  prematurely  placed  upon  it, 
since  the  Masters  do  not  choose  men  to  enter  this  service 
until  they  have  entirely  or  almost  entirely  exhausted 
such  feelings  as  are  concerned  with  dependence  upon  the 
world's  opinion. 

The  great  majority  of  theosophists  occupy  themselves 
outwardly  with  the  affairs  of  the  world,  whatever  they 
may  be.  Inwardly  they  are  thinking  of  their  higher 
duty  or  feeling  the  subtle  influences  that  come  from 
the  higher  spiritual  realms.  (W.  V-H.) 

Theosophy  and  Art.  The  fundamental  principles  of 
art  appear  clearly  from  a  study  of  Theosophy.  Art  in 
all  its  many  phases  of  music,  architecture,  sculpture, 
painting,  the  drama,  is  seen  as  so  many  ways  of  stating 
fragments  of  the  one  truth,  the  true  relation  man  bears 
to  Divinity.  As  science  through  her  investigation  of 
Nature's  laws  helps  a  man  to  see  his  relation  to  the^ 
whole  by  means  of  a  trained  and  impersonal  intellect, 
so  art,  when  properly  presented,  appeals  to  a  still  higher 
principle  of  consciousness  in  man,  a  divine  Intuition. 
To  the  Theosophist,  the  love  of  the  beautiful  becomes 
one  pathway  to  the  higher  life,  and  the  light  that  is 
thrown  by  Theosophy  upon  every  phase  of  artistic  pro- 
duction synthesizes  its  different  expressions  and  shows 
that,  as  through  religion,  we  come  to  know  God  as 
Eternally  Holy,  as  through  science  we  see  Him  as 
Divine  Law  and  Order,  so  through  art  He  is  seen  as  the 
Infinitely  Beautiful.  (C.  J.) 

MAN  AND  HIS  BODIES. 

The  Astral  Plane.    No  one  can  get  a  clear  conception 

of  the  teachings  of  the  Wisdom-Religion  until  he  has  at 

least    an    intellectual    grasp    of    the    fact    that    in    our 

solar  system  there  exist  perfectly  definite  planes,  each 

12 


THE   PLANES   OF    NATURE 

with  its  own  matter  of  different  degrees  of  density,  and 
that  some  of  these  planes  can  be  visited  and  observed 
by  persons  who  have  qualified  themselves  for  the  work, 
exactly  as  a  foreign  country  might  be  visited  and  ob- 
served. 

The  names  usually  given  to  these  planes,  taking  them 
in  order  of  materiality,  rising  from  the  denser  to  the 
finer,  are  the  physical,  the  astral,  the  mental  or  deva- 
chanie,  the  buddhic,  and  the  nirvanic.  Higher  than  this 
last  are  two  others,  but  they  are  so  far  above  our 
present  power  of  conception  that  for  the  moment  they 
may  be  left  out  of  consideration.  )  It  should  be  under- 
stood that  the  matter  of  eacK^  of'  these  planes  differs 
from  that  of  the  one  below  it  in  the  same  way  as,  though 
to  a  much  greater  degree  than,  vapour  differs  from  solid 
matter;  in  fact,  the  states  of  matter  which  we  call  solid, 
liquid,  and  gaseous  are  merely  the  three  lowest  subdi- 
visions of  the  matter  belonging  to  this  one  physical 
plane. 

The  astral  region  is  the  second  of  these  great  planes 
of  nature— the  next  above  (or  within)  that  physical 
world  with  which  we  are  all  familiar.  It  has  often  been 
called  the  realm  of  illusion— not  that  it  is  itself  any  more 
illusory  than  the  physical  world,  but  because  of  the 
extreme  unreliability  of  the  impressions  brought  back 
from  it  by  the  untrained  seer.  This  is  to  be  accounted 
for  mainly  by  two  remarkable  characteristics  of  the 
astral  world — first,  that  many  of  its  inhabitants  have  a 
marvelous  power  of  changing  their  forms  with  Protean 
rapidity,  and  also  of  casting  practically  unlimited 
glamour  over  those  with  whom  they  choose  to  sport; 
and  secondly,  that  sight  on  that  plane  is  a  faculty  very 
different  from  and  much  more  extended  than  physical 
vision.  An  object  is  seen,  as  it  were,  from  all  sides  at 
once,  the  inside  of  a  solid  being  as  plainly  open  to  the 
view  as  the  outside:  it  is  therefore  obvious  that  an  in- 
experienced visitor  to  this  new  world  may  well  find 
•onsiderable  difficulty  in  understanding  what  he  really 

13 


A    PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

does  see,  and  still  more  in  translating  his  vision  into 
the  very  inadequate  language  of  ordinary  speech. 

In  the  case  of  a  student  of  occultism  trained  by  a 
capable  Master  such  a  mistake  would  be  impossible 
except  through  great  hurry  or  carelessness,  since  such 
a  pupil  has  to  go  through  a  long  and  varied  course  of 
instruction  in  this  art  of  seeing  correctly,  the  Master, 
or  perhaps  some  more  advanced  pupil,  bringing  before  him 
again  and  again  all  possible  forms  of  illusion,  and 
asking  him  "What  do  you  see?"  Any  errors  in  his 
answers  are  then  corrected  and  their  reasons  explained, 
until  by  degrees  the  neophyte  acquires  a  certainty  and 
confidence  in  dealing  with  the  phenomena  of  the  astral 
plane  which  far  exceeds  anything  possible  in  physical 
life. 

But  he  has  to  learn  not  only  to  see  correctly  but  to 
translate  the  memory  of  what  he  has  seen  accurately 
from  one  plane  to  the  other;  and  to  assist  him  in  this 
he  is  trained  to  carry  his  consciousness  without  break 
from  the  physical  plane  to  the  astral  or  devachanic  and 
back  again,  for  until  that  can  be  done  there  is  always  a 
possibility  that  his  recollections  may  be  partially  lose 
or  distorted  during  the  blank  interval  which  separates 
his  periods  of  consciousness  on  the  various  planes. 
When  the  power  of  bringing  over  the  consciousness  is 
perfectly  acquired  the  pupil  will  have  the  advantage  of 
the  use  of  all  the  astral  faculties,  not  only  while  out  of 
his  body  during  sleep  or  trance,  but  also  while  fully 
awake  in  ordinary  physical  life. 

The  astral  plane  lies  next  to  our  world  of  denser  mat- 
ter; it  is  usually  in  connection  with  it  that  our  earliest 
super-physical  experiences  take  place.  A  knowledge  of 
this  plane  can  only  be  obtained  by  clairvoyant  vision,  a 
new  sixth  sense,  a  method  of  seeing  without  the  use  of 
the  physical  eye.  Those  who  can  see  with  tnis  vision 
are  able  to  observe  the  world  of  the  astral  plane,  and 
all  who  see  fully  agree  that  to  attempt  to  call  up  a 
vivid  picture  of  this  astral  scenery  before  those  whose 

14 


THE   ASTRAL   PLA^'E— SCENERY 

eyes  are  as  yet  unopened  is  like  speaking  to  a  blind  man 
of  the  exquisite  variety  of  tints  in  a  sunset  sky — how- 
ever detailed  and  elaborate  the  description  may  be,  there 
is  no  certainty  that .  the  idea  presented  before  the 
hearer's  mind  will  be  an  adequate  representation  of  the 
truth. 

There  are  certain  sources  of  error  in  clairvoyant 
vision  which  makes  it  possible  for  the  possessor  to  see 
the  things  of  the  plane  inaccurately. 

But  in  addition  to  these  possible  sources  of  error 
matters  are  fuither  complicated  by  the  fact  that  this 
higher  sight  cognizes  forms  of  matter  w^hich,  while  still 
purely  physical,  are  nevertheless  invisible  under  ordi- 
nary conditions.  Such,  for  example,  are  the  particles 
composing  the  atmosphere,  all  the  various  (emanations 
which  are  always  being  given  out  by  everything  that 
has  life,  and  also  four  grades  of  a  still  finer  order  of 
physical  matter  which,  for  want  of  more  distinctive 
names,  must  all  be  described  as  etheric.  The  latter 
form  a  kind  of  system  by  themselves,  freely  interpen- 
etrating all  other  physical  matter. 

Even  when  our  imagination  has  fully  grasped  all  that 
is  comprehended  in  what  has  already  been  said,  we  do 
not  yet  understand  half  the  complexity  of  the  problem; 
for  besides  all  these  new  forms  of  physical  matter  we 
have  to  deal  with  the  still  more  numerous  and  perplex- 
ing subdivisions  of  astral  matter.  We  must  note  first 
that  every  material  object,  every  particle  even,  has  its 
astral  counterpart,  and  this  counterpart  is  itself  not  a 
simple  body,  but  is  usually  extremely  complex,  being 
composed  of  various  kinds  of  astra  mat'^er.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  each  living  creature  is  &.  irrounded  with  an 
atmosphere  of  its  own,  usually  called  its  aura,  and  in 
the  case  of  human  beings  this  aura  forms  of  itself  a 
very  fascinating  branch  of  study.  It  is  seen  as  an  oval 
mass  of  luminous  mist  of  highly  complex  structure,  and 
from  its  shape  has  sometimes  been  called  the  auric  egg. 
In  regarding  his  fellow-man  he  no  longer  sees  only  his 

15 


A  PRIMER  OF  THE080PHY  \ 

outer  appearance;  almost  exactly  co-extensive  with  tl 
physical  body  he  clearly  distinguishes  the  ethe 
double;  while  the  universal  life-fluid  as  it  is  absorl 
and  specialized,  as  it  circulates  in  rosy  light  throughc 
the  body,  as  it  eventually  radiates  from  the  healt 
person  in  its  altered  form,  is  also  perfectly  obvious. 

Most  brilliant  and  most  easily  seen  of  all,  perha 
though  belonging  to  a  more  refined  order  of  mattei 
the  astral — is  that  aura  which  expresses  by  its  vi 
and  ever -changing  flashes  of  colour  the  diff'erent  desi 
which  sweep  across  the  man's  mind  from  moment 
moment.    This  is  the  true  astral  body. 

Behind  that,  and  consisting  of  a  finer  grade  of  mat" 
again — that  of  the  form-levels  of  the  devachanic  planf 
lies  the  mental  body  or  aura  of  the  lower  mind,  wh( 
colours,  changing  only  by  slow  degrees  as  the  man  \i\ 
his  life,  show  the  trend  of  his  thoughts  and  the  dispo 
tion  and  character  of  his  personality;  while  still  higl 
and  infinitely  more  beautiful,  where  at  all  cleai 
developed,  is  the  living  light  of  the  casual  body,  t 
vehicle  of  the  higher  self,  which  shows  the  stage 
development  of  the  real  ego  in  its  passage  from  bii 
to  birth.  But  to  see  these  the  pupil  must,  of  cour 
have  developed  the  vision  of  the  levels  to  which  th 
belong. 

It  will  save  the  student  much  trouble  if  he  learns 
once  to  regard  these  auras  not  as  mere  emanations,  b 
as  the  actual  manifestation  of  the  ego  on  their  resp< 
tive  planes — if  he  understands  that  it  is  the  auric  e 
which  is  the  real  man,  not  the  physical  body  which 
this  plane  crystallizes  in  the  middle  of  it.  So  long  i 
the  reincarnating  ego  remains  upon  the  plane  which 
his  true  home  in  the  formless  levels,  the  vehicle  whi 
he  inhabits  is  the  causal  body,  but  when  he  descen 
into  the  form-levels  he  must,  in  order  to  be  able 
function  upon  them,  clothe  himself  in  their  matte 
and  the  matter  that  he  thus  attracts  to  himself  fi 
nishes  hia  devachanic  or  mind-body. 

16  I 


THE  AURA 

Similarly,  descending  into  the  astral  plane  he  forms 
his  astral  or  desire-body  out  of  its  matter,  though  of 
course  still  retaining  all  the  other  bodies,  and  on  his 
still  further  descent  to  this  lowest  plane  of  all  the 
physical  body  is  formed  in  the  midst  of  the  auric  egg, 
which  thus  contains  the  entire  man. 

Though  the  astral  aura  from  the  brilliancy  of  its 
flashes  of  colour  may  often  be  more  conspicuous,  the 
nerve-ether  and  the  etheric  double  are  really  of  a  much 
denser  order  of  matter,  being  within  the  limits  of  the 
physical  plane,  though  invisible  to  ordinary  sight.  If 
we  examine  with  psychic  faculty  the  body  of  a  newly- 
born  child,  we  shall  find  it  permeated  not  only  by  astral 
matter  of  every  degree  of  density,  but  also  by  the 
several  grades  of  etheric  matter;  and  if  we  take  the 
trouble  to  trace  these  inner  bodies  backwards  to  their 
origin,  we  find  that  it  is  of  the  latter  that  the  etheric 
double — the  mould  upon  which  the  physical  body  is 
built  up — is  formed  by  the  agents  of  the  Lords  of 
karma;  while  the  astral  matter  has  been  gathered  to- 
gether by  the  descending  ego,  not  of  course  consciously, 
but  automatically,  as  he  passess  through  the  astral 
plane.     (See  Manual  No.  IV.,  p.  44.) 

Into  the  composition  of  the  etheric  double  must  enter 
something  of  all  the  different  grades  of  etheric  matter; 
but  the  proportions  may  vary  greatly,  and  are  deter- 
mined by  several  factors,  such  as  the  race,  sub-race, 
and  type  of  a  man,  as  well  as  by  his  individual  karma. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  these  four  subdivisions  of 
matter  are  made  up  of  numerous  combinations,  which, 
in  their  turn,  form  aggregations  that  enter  into  the 
composition  of  the  "atom"  of  the  so-called  ''element" 
of  the  chemist,  it  will  be  seen  that  this  double  of  man 
is  highly  complex,  and  the  number  of  its  possible  varia- 
tion practically  infinite,  so  that,  however  complicated 
and  unusual  a  man's  karma  may  be,  those  in  whose 
province  such  work  falls  are  able  to  give  a  mould  in 
accordance  with  which  a  body  exactly  suiting  it  can  be 
formed. 

17 


A   PRIMER  OF  THEOSOrHY 

It  will  by  this  time  be  obvious  that  though,  as  above 
stated,  the  ordinary  objects  of  the  physical  world  form 
the  background  to  life  on  certain  levels  of  the  astral 
plane,  yet  so  much  more  is  seen  of  their  real  appear- 
ance and  characteristics  that  the  general  effect  differs 
widely  from  that  with  which  we  are  familiar.  For  the 
sake  of  illustration  take  a  rock  as  an  example  of  the 
simpler  class  of  objects.  When  regarded  with  trained 
sight  it  is  no  mere  inert  mass  of  stone.  First  of  all, 
the  whole  of  the  physical  matter  of  the  rock  is  seen 
instead  of  a  very  small  part  of  it:  secondly,  the  vibra- 
tions of  its  physical  particles  are  perceptible;  thirdly, 
it  is  seen  to  possess  an  astral  counterpart  composed 
of  various  grades  of  astral  matter,  whose  particles  are 
also  in  constant  motion;  fourthly,  the  universal  life 
is  seen  to  be  circulating  through  it  and  radiating  from 
it;  fifthly,  an  aura  will  be  seen  surrounding  it,  though 
this  is,  of  course,  much  less  extended  and  varied  than 
in  the  case  of  the  higher  kingdoms;  sixthly,  its  appro- 
priate elemental  essence  is  seen  permeating  it,  ever 
active  but  ever  fluctuating.  In  the  case  of  the  vegetable-, 
animal,  and  human  kingdoms,  the  complications  are 
naturally  much  more  numerous.  The  first,  second  and 
third  subdivisions  of  the  Astral  Plane,  though  occupying 
the  same  space,  yet  give  the  impression  of  being  much 
further  removed  from  this  physical  world,  and  corre- 
spondingly less  material.  Entities  inhabiting  these 
levels  lose  sight  of  the  earth  and  its  belongings;  they 
are  usually  deeply  self-absorbed,  and  to  a  large  extent 
create  their  own  'surroundings,  though  these  are  suffi- 
ciently objective  to  be  perceptible  to  other  entities  and 
also  to  clairvoyant  vision.  This  region  is  beyond  doubt 
the  "summerland"  of  which  we  hear  so  much  at  spirit- 
ualistic seances,  and  those  who  descend  from  and 
describe  it  no  doubt  speak  the  truth  as  far  as  their 
knowledge  extends.  It  is  on  these  planes  that  '"spirits" 
call  into  temporary  existence  their  houses,  schools,  and 

18 


TEE  AKASHIC  RECORDS 

cities,  for  these  objects  are  often  real  enough  for  the 
time,  though  to  a  clearer  sight  they  may  sometimes  be 
pitiably  unlike  what  their  delighted  creators  suppose 
them  to  be.  Nevertheless,  many  of  the  imaginations 
which  take  form  there  are  of  real  though  temporary 
beauty,  and  a  visitor  who  knew  of  nothing  higher 
might  wander  contentedly  enough  there  among  forests 
and  mountains,  lovely  lakes  and  pleasant  flower-gardens, 
which  are  at  any  rate  much  superior  to  anything  in  the 
physical  world;  or  he  might  even  construct  such  sur- 
roundings to  suit  his  own  fancies.  The  details  of  the 
differences  between  these  three  higher  sub-planes  will 
perhaps  be  more  readily  explicable  when  we  come  to 
deal  with  their  human  inhabitants. 

An  account  of  the  scenery  of  the  astral  plane  would 
be  incomplete  without  some  mention  of  what  have 
often,  thought  mistakenly,  been  called  the  Records  of 
the  Astral  Light.  These  records  (which  are  in  truth  a 
sort  of  materialization  of  the  Divine  memory — a  living 
photographic  representation  of  all  that  has  ever  hap- 
pened) are  really  and  permanently  impressed  upon  a 
very  much  higher  level,  and  are  only  reflected  in  a 
more  or  less  spasmodic  manner  on  the  astral  plane,  so 
that  one  whose  power  of  vision  does  not  "rise  above 
this  will  be  likely  to  obtain  only  occasional  and  dis- 
connected pictures  of  the  past  instead  of  a  coherent 
narrative.  But  nevertheless  these  reflected  pictures  of 
all  kinds  of  past  events  are  constantly  being  repro- 
duced in  the  astral  world,  and  form  an  important  part 
of  the  surroundings  of  the  investigator  there. 

Visitors  to  the  Astral  Plane.  The  men  who  manifest 
themselves  on  the  astral  plane  during  physical  life  may 
be  subdivided  into  four  classes:  — 

1.  The  Adept  and  his  Pupils.  Those  belonging  to 
this  class  usually  employ  as  a  vehicle  not  the  astral 
body  at  all,  but  the  mind-body,  which  is  composed  of  the 
matter  of  the  four  lower  or  rupa  levels  of  the  plane 
next  above.     The  advantage  of  this  vehicle   is  that  it 

19 


A   PRIMER  OF  THEOSOPHY 

permits  of  instant  passage  from  the  mental  plane  to 
the  astral  and  back,  and  allows  of  the  use  at  all  times 
of  the  greater  power  and  keener  sense  of  its  own  plane. 
Whichever  vehicle  he  is  employing,  the  man  who  is 
introduced  to  the  astral  plane  under  the  guidance  of  a 
competent  teacher  has  always  the  fullest  possible  con- 
sciousness there,  and  is  able  to  function  perfectly  easily 
upon  all  its  subdivisions. 

2.  The  Psychically-developed  Person  who  is  not  under 
the  guidance  of  a  Master.  Such  a  person  may  or  may 
not  be  spiritually  developed,  for  the  two  forms  of  ad- 
vancement do  not  necessarily  go  together.  When  a  man 
is  born  with  psychic  powers  it  is  simply  the  result  of 
efforts  made  during  a  previous  incarnation,  which  may 
have  been  of  the  noblest  and  most  unselfish  character, 
or  on  the  other  hand  may  have  been  ignorant  and  ill- 
directed  or  even  entirely  unworthy. 

Such  an  one  will  usually  be  perfectly  conscious  when 
out  of  the  body,  but  for  want  of  proper  training  is 
liable  to  be  greatly  deceived  as  to  what  he  sees.  He  will 
often  be  able  to  range  through  the  different  subdivisions 
of  the  astral  plane  almost  as  fully  as  persons  belonging 
to  the  last  class;  but  sometimes  he  is  especially  at- 
tracted to  some  one  division  and  rarely  travels  beyond 
its  influences.  His  recollection  of  what  he  has  seen 
may  vary  according  to  the  degree  of  his  development 
through  all  the  stages  from  perfect  clearness  to  utter 
distortion  or  blank  oblivion.  He  will  appear  always  in 
this  astral  body,  since  he  does  not  know  how  to  func-  ] 
tion  in  the  mental  vehicle.  - 

3.  The  Ordinary  Person — that  is,  the  person  without        ! 
any  psychic  development — who  floats  about  in  his  astral 
body  during  sleep  in  a  more  or  less  unconscious  condi- 
tion.    In   deep   slumber   the   higher   principles    in   their 
astral    vehicle    almost    invariably    withdraw    from    the        { 
body,  and  hover  in  its  immediate  neighbourhood,  though 

in  quite  undeveloped  persons  they  are  practically  almost 
as  much  asleep  as  the  body  is. 

i 
20  t 


THE   DENIZENS    OF    THE    ASTRAL    PLANE 

All  cultured  people,  belonging  to  the  higher  races  of 
the  world,  have  at  the  present  time  their  astral  senses 
very  fairly  developed,  so  that,  if  they  were  sufficiently 
aroused  to  examine  the  realities  which  surround  them 
during  sleep,  they  would  be  able  to  observe  them  -and 
learn  much  from  them.  But,  in  the  vast  majority  of 
cases,  they  are  not  so  aroused,  and  they  spend  most 
of  their  nights  in  a  kind  of  brown  study,  pondering 
deeply  over  whatever  thought  may  have  been  upper- 
most in  their  minds  when  they  fell  asleep.  They  have 
the  astral  faculties,  but  they  scarcely  use  them;  they 
are  certainly  awake  on  the  astral  plane,  and  yet  they 
are  not  in  the  least  awake  to  the  plane,  and  are  conse- 
quently conscious  of  their  surroundings  only  very, 
vaguely,  if  at  all. 

When  such  a  man  becomes  a  pupil  of  one  of  the  Mas- 
ters of  Wisdom,  he  is  usually  at  once  shaken  out  of  this 
somnolent  condition,  fully  awakened  to  the  realities 
around  him  on  that  plane,  and  set  to  learn  from  them 
and  to  work  among  them,  so  that  his  hours  of  sleep 
are  no  longer  a  blank,  but  are  filled  with  active  and 
useful  occupation  without  in  the  least  interfering  with 
the  healthy  repose  of  the  tired  physical  body.  (See 
The  Disciple's  Activities  During  Sleep.) 

4.  The  Black  Magician  or  his  pupil.  This  class  cor- 
responds somewhat  to  the  first  except  that  the  develop- 
ment has  been  for  evil  instead  of  good,  and  the  powers 
acquired  are  used  for  purely  selfish  purposes  instead  of 
for  the  benefit  of  humanity. 

Astral  Inhabitants.  The  human  inhabitants  of  the 
astral  plane  who  are  "dead"  may  be  subdivided  into 
several  classes.  To  begin  with,  of  course,  this  very 
word  "dead"  is  an  absurd  misnomer,  as  most  of  the 
entities  classified  under  this  heading  are  as  fully  alive 
as  we  are  ourselves — often  distinctly  more  so;  so  the 
term  must  be  understood  simply  as  meaning  those  who 
are  for  the  time  unattached  to  a  physical  body. 

1.    The  Nirmanakaya.     This  class  is  just  mentioned 

21 


A    PRIMER   OF   TnEOSOPEY 

in  order  to  make  the  catalogue  complete,  but  it  is  of 
course  very  rarely  indeed  that  so  exalted  a  being  man- 
ifests himself  upon  so  low  a  plane  as  this.  When  for 
any  reason  connected  with  his  sublime  work  he  found 
it  desirable  to  do  so,  he  would  probably  create  a  tem- 
porary astral  body  for  the  purpose  from  the  atomic 
matter  of  the  plane,  just  as  the  Adept  in  the  mind-body 
would  do,  simply  because  his  more  refined  vesture  would 
be  invisible  to  astral  sight. 

2.  The  Pupil  awaiting  reincarnation.  When  a  pupil 
who  has  decided  to  do  this  dies,  he  simply  steps  out  of 
his  body,  as  he  has  often  done  before,  and  waits  upon 
the  astral  plane  until  a  suitable  reincarnation  can  be 
arranged  for  him  by  his  Master. 

3.  The  Ordinary  Person  after  death.  Needless  to 
say,  this  class  is  millions  of  times  larger  than  those  of 
which  we  have  spoken,  and  the  character  and  condi- 
tion of  its  members  vary  within  extremely  wide  limits. 
Within  similarly  wide  limits  may  vary  also  the  length 
of  their  lives  upon  the  astral  plane,  for  while  there  are 
those  who  pass  only  a  few  days  or  hours  there,  others 
remain  upon  this  level  for  many  years  and  even  cen- 
turies. 

A  man  who  has  led  a  good  and  pure  life,  whose  strong- 
est feelings  and  aspiration  have  been  unselfish  and 
spiritual,  will  have  no  attraction  to  this  plane,  and  will, 
if  entirely  left  alone,  find  little  to  keep  him  upon  it,  or 
to  awaken  him  into  activity  ever/  during  the  compara- 
tively short  period  of  his  stay.  For  it  must  be  under- 
stood that  after  death  the  true  man  is  withdrawing  into 
himself,  and  just  as  at  the  first  step  of  that  process  he 
casts  off  the  physical  body,  and  almost  directly  after- 
wards the  etheric  double,  so  it  is  intended  that  he  should 
as  soon  as  possible  cast  off  also  the  astral  or  desire 
body,  and  pass  into  the  heaven-world,  where  alone  his 
spiritual  aspirations  can  bear  their  perfect  fruit. 

Every  one  after  death  has  to  pass  through  all  the 
subdivisions    of    the    astral    plane    on    his    way    to    the 

22 


THE  SUB-PLANES  OF  THE  ASTRAL  WORLD 

heaven-world,  though  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  he 
will  be  conscious  upon  all  of  them. 

The  only  persons  who  would  normally  awake  to  con- 
sciousness on  the  lowest  level  of  the  astral  plane  are 
those  whose  desires  are  gross  and  brutal — drunkards, 
sensualists,  and  such  like.  There  they  woula  remain  for 
a  period  proportioned  to  the  strength  of  their  desires. 

The  ordinarily  decent  man  would  probably  have  little 
to  detain  him  on  that  seventh  sub-plane;  but  if  his 
chief  desires  and  thoughts  had  centered  in  mere  worldly 
affairs,  he  would  be  likely  to  find  himself  in  the  sixth 
subdivision,  still  hovering  about  the  places  and  persons 
with  which  he  was  most  closely  connected  while  on 
earth.  The  fifth  and  the  fourth  sub-planes  are  of  sim- 
ilar character,  except  that  as  we  rise  through  them  mere 
earthly  associations  appear  to  become  of  less  and  less 
importance,  and  the  departed  tends  more  and  more  to 
mould  his  surroundings  into  agreement  with  the  more 
persistent  of  his  thoughts. 

By  the  time  we  get  to  the  third  sub-division  we  find 
that  this  characteristic  has  entirely  superseded  the 
vision  of  the  realities  of  the  plane;  for  here  the  people 
are  living  in  imaginary  cities  of  their  own — not,  of 
course,  each  evolved  entirely  by  his  own  thought,  as  in 
the  heaven-world,  but  inheriting  and  adding  to  the 
structures  erected  by  the  thoughts  of  their  predecessors. 
Here  it  is  that  the  churches  and  schools  and  "dwellings 
in  the  summerland,"  so  often  described  at  spiritualistic 
seances,  are  to  be  found;  though  they  would  often  seem 
much  less  real  and  much  less  magnificent  to  an  unpreju- 
diced living  observer  than  they  are  to  their  delighted 
creators. 

The  second  sub-plane  seems  especially  the  habitat  of 
the  selfish  or  unspiritual  religionist;  here  he  wears  his 
golden  crown  and  worships  his  own  grossly  material 
representation  of  the  particular  deity  of  his  country  and 
time.  The  highest  subdivision  appears  to  be  specially 
appropriated    to    those    who    during    life  have    devoted 

23 


A   PRIMER  OF  THEOSOPHY 

themselves  to  materialistic  but  intellectual  pursuits, 
following  them  not  for  the  sake  of  benefiting  their 
fellow-men  thereby,  but  either  from  motives  of  selfish 
ambition  or  simply  for  the  sake  of  intellectual  exercise. 
Such  persons  will  often  remain  upon  this  level  for  many 
years — happy  enough  indeed  in  W'orking  out  their  intel- 
lectual problems,  but  doing  no  good  to  any  one,  and 
making  but  little  progress  on  their  way  towards  the 
heaven-world. 

In  the  case  of  a  thoroughly  spiritually-minded  person, 
before  death,  attraction  to  life  in  the  astral  world  will 
have  been  destroyed,  and  the  result  would  be  a  prac- 
tically instantaneous  passage  through  this  plane,  so 
that  consciousness  would  be^  recovered  for  the  first  time 
in  the  heaven-world. 

4.  The  Shade.  When  the  astral  life  of  the  person  is 
over,  as  before  stated,  he  passes  into  the  devachanic 
condition.  But  just  as  when  he  dies  to  this  plane  he 
leaves  his  physical  body  behind  him,  so  when  he  dies 
tc  the  astral  plane  he  leaves  a  disintegrating  astral  body 
behind  him.  It  is  not  in  any  sense  the  real  individual 
at  all,  for  he  has  passed  away  into  the  heaven-world; 
but  nevertheless,  it  not  only  bears  his  exact  personal 
appearance,  but  possesses  his  memory  and  all  his  liltle 
idiosyncrasies,  and  may,  thefore,  very  readily  be  mis- 
taken for  him,  as   indeed   it   frequently   is   at   seances. 

5.  The  Shell.  This  is  absolutely  the  mere  astral 
corpse  in  the  later  stages  of  its  disintegration,  every 
particle  of  the  mind  having  left  it.  It  is  entirely  with- 
out any  kind  of  consciousness  or  intelligence,  and  is 
drifted  passively  about  upon  the  astral  currents  just  as 
a  cloud  might  be  swept  in  any  direction  by  a  passing 
breeze;  but  even  yet  it  may  be  galvanized  for  a  few 
moments  into  a  ghastly  burlesque  of  life  if  it  happens 
to  come  within  reach  of  a  medium's  aura. 

6.  The  Vitalized  Shell.  This  entity  ought  not, 
strictly  speaking,  to  be  classified  under  the  head 
"human"  at  all,  since  it  is  only  its  outer  vesture,  the 

.    24 


NATURE  SPIRITS,  DEVA8 

passive,  senseless  shell,  that  was  once  an  appanage  of 
humanity;  such  life,  intelligence,  desire,  and  will  as  it 
may  possess  are  those  of  the  artificial  elemental  animat- 
ing it,  and  that,  though  in  terrible  truth  a  creation  of 
man's  evil  thought,  is  not  itself  human. 

Let  it  suffice  here  to  mention  that  it  is  always  a 
malevolent  being — a  true  tempting  demon,  whose  evil 
influence  is  limited  only  by  the  extent  of  its  power. 

7.  The  Suicide  and  the  victim  of  sudden  death.  A 
man  wiio  is  torn  from  physical  life  hurriedly  while  in 
full  health  and  strength,  whether  by  accident  or  suicide, 
finds  himself  upon  the  astral  plane  in  full  consciousness, 
and  usually  remains  there  for  the  length  of  time  equal 
to  that  during  which  his  karma  would  have  required 
him  to  live  in  physical  plane  life  had  it  not  been  for  the 
accident  or  suicide. 

Non-Human  Inhabitants.  Among  the  many  and 
varied  non-human  inhabitants  of  the  astral  plane  are:  — 
The  Astral  Bodies  of  Animals.  This  is  an  extremely 
large  class,  yet  it  does  not  occupy  a  particularly  im- 
portant position  on  the  astral  plane,  since  its  members 
usually  stay  there  but  a  very  short  time. 

The  animal  has  a  real  existence  on  the  astral  plane, 
the  length  of  which,  though  never  great,  varies  accord- 
ing to  the  intelligence  which  it  has  developed.  In  most 
cases  it  does  not  seem  to  be  more  than  dreamily  con- 
scious, but  appears  perfectly  happy. 

Nature  Spirits.  In  popular  language  they  are  known 
by  many  names — fairies,  pixies,  elves,  brownies,  peris, 
djinns,  trolls,  satyrs,  fauns,  kobolds,  imps,  goblins,  good 
people,  &c.  The  Adept  knows  how  to  make  use  of  the 
services  of  the  nature-spirits  when  he  requires  them, 
but  the  ordinary  magician  can  obtain  their  assistance 
only  by  processes  either  of  invocation  or  evocation— 
that  is,  either  by  attracting  their  attention  as  a  sup- 
pliant and  making  some  kind  of  bargain  with  them,  or 
by  endeavouring  to  set  in  motion  influences  which  would 

25 


A   PRIMER  OF  THEOSOPHY 

compel  their  obedience.  Both  methods  are  extremely  un- 
desirable, and  the  latter  is  also  excessively  dangerous, 
as  the  operator  would  arouse  a  determined  hostility 
which  might  prove  fatal  to  him.  Needless  to  say,  no 
one  studying  occultism  under  a  qualified  Master  would 
ever  be  permitted  to  attempt  anything  of  the  kind  at 
all. 

The  Devas.  The  highest  system  of  evolution  con- 
nected with  this  earth,  so  far  as  we  know,  is  that  of  the 
beings  whom  Hindus  call  the  devas,  and  who  have 
elsewhere  been  spoken  of  as  angels,  sons  of  God,  &c. 
They  may,  in  fact,  be  regarded  as  a  kingdom  lying  next 
above  humanity,  in  the  same  way  as  humanity  in  turn 
lies  next  above  the  animal  kingdom,  but  with  this  im- 
portant difference,  that  while  for  an  animal  there  is 
no  possibility  of  evolution  (so  far  as  we  know)  through 
any  kingdom  but  the  human,  man,  when  he  attains  a 
certain  high  level,  finds  various  paths  of  advancement 
opening  before  him,  of  which  this  great  deva  evolution 
is  only  one. 

The  attention  of  Devas  can  be  attracted  by  certain 
magical  avocations,  but  the  only  human  will  wliich  can 
dominate  theirs  is  that  of  a  certain  high  class  of 
Adepts.  As  a  rule  they  seem  scarcely  conscious  of  us 
on  our  physical  plane,  but  it  does  now  and  then  happen 
that  one  of  them  becomes  aware  of  some  human  diflfi- 
culty  which  excites  his  pity,  and  he  perhaps  renders 
some  assistance,  just  as  any  of  us  would  try  to  help  an 
animal  that  we  saw  in  trouble.  But  it  is  well  under- 
stood among  them  that  any  interference  in  human 
affairs  at  the  present  stage  is  likely  to  do  far  more 
harm  than  good. 

Elementals  formed  unconsciously.  The  elemental  es- 
sence which  surrounds  us  on  every  side  is  in  all  its 
numberless  varieties  singularly  susceptible  to  the  in- 
fluence of  human  thought.  The  action  of  the  mere 
casual  wandering  thought  upon  it,  causes  it  to  burst 
into  a  cloud  of  rapidly-moving,  evanescent  forms;   but 

26 


GHOSTS,  APPARITIOXS 

when  the  human  mind  formulates  a  definite,  purposeful 
thought  or  wish,  the  effect  produced  is  of  the  most 
striking  nature.  The  thought  seizes  upon  the  plastic 
essence,  and  moulds  it  instantly  into  a  living  being  of 
appropriate  form — a  being  which  when  once  thus  created 
is  in  no  way  under  the  control  of  its  creator,  but  lives 
out  a  life  of  its  own,  the  length  of  which  is  propor- 
tionate to  the  intensity  of  the  thought  or  wish  which 
called  it  into  existence. 

Astral  Phenomena.  A  study  of  the  laws  governing 
life  in  the  astral  world  gives  the  clue  to  many  a  strange 
phenomenon.  If  a  ghost  is  seen  hovering  about  a  grave 
it  is  probably  the  etheric  shell  of  a  newly-buried  per- 
son, though  it  may  be  the  astral  body  of  a  living  man 
haunting  in  sleep  the  tomb  of  a  friend;  or  again,  it  may 
be  a  materialized  thought-form — that  is,  an  artificial 
elemental  created  by  the  energy  with  which  a  man 
thinks  of  himself  as  present  at  that  particular  spot. 
These  varieties  would  be  easily  distinguishable  one  from 
the  other  by  any  one  accustomed  to  use  astral  vision, 
but  an  unpracticed  person  would  be  quite  likely  to  call 
them  all  vaguely  "ghosts." 

Apparitions  at  the  time  of  death  are  by  no  means 
uncommon,  and  are  very  often  really  visits  paid  by  the 
astral  form  of  the  dying  man  just  before  what  we 
elect  to  call  the  moment  of  dissolution;  though  here 
again  they  are  quite  likely  to  be  thought-forms  called 
into  being  by  his  earnest  wish  to  see  some  friend  once 
more  before  he  passes  into  an  unfamiliar  condition. 
There  are  some  instances  in  which  the  visit  is  paid  just 
after  the  moment  of  death  instead  of  just  before,  and 
in  such  a  case  the  visitor  is  really  a  ghost;  but  for 
various  causes  this  form  of  apparition  is  far  less  fre- 
quent than  the  other. 

Apparitions  at  the  spot  where  some  crime  was  com- 
mitted are  usually  thought-forms  projected  by  the  crim- 
inal, who,  whether  living  or  dead,  but  most  especially 
when  dead,  is  perpetually  thinking  over  again  and  again 

27 


A   PRIMER  OF  THEOSOPHY 

the  circumstances  of  his  action.  Since  these  thoughts 
are  naturally  specially  vivid  in  his  mind  on  the  anni- 
versary of  the  original  crime,  it  is  often  only  on  that 
occasion  that  the  artificial  elementals  which  he  creates 
are  strong  enough  to  materialize  themselves  to  ordinary 
sight — a  fact  which  accounts  for  the  periodicity  of  some 
manifestations  of  this  class. 

Another  point  in  reference  to  such  phenomena  is,  that 
wherever  any  tremendous  mental  disturbance  has  taken 
place,  wherever  overwhelming  terror,  pain,  sorrow, 
hatred,  or  indeed  any  kind  of  intense  passion  has  been 
felt,  an  impression  of  so  very  marked  a  character  has 
been  made  upon  the  astral  light  that  a  person  with  even 
the  faintest  glimmer  of  psychic  faculty  cannot  but  be 
deeply  impressed  by  it. 

The  family  ghost,  whom  we  generally  find  in  the 
stock  stories  of  the  supernatural  as  an  appanage  of  the 
feudal  castle,  may  be  either  a  thought-form  or  an  un- 
usually vivid  impression  in  the  astral  light,  or  again  he 
may  really  be  an  earth-bound  ancestor  still  haunting 
the  scenes  in  which  his  thoughts  and  hopes  centered 
during  life. 

Another  class  of  hauntings  which  take  the  form  of 
bell-ringing,  stone-throwing,  or  the  breaking  of  crockery, 
has  already  been  referred  to,  and  is  almost  invariably 
the  work  of  elemental  forces,  either  set  blindly  in 
motion  by  the  clumsy  efforts  of  an  ignorant  person  try- 
ing to  attract  the  attention  of  his  surviving  friends,  or 
intentionally  employed  by  some  childishly  mischievous 
nature-spirit. 

The  nature-spirits  are  also  responsible  for  whatever 
of  truth  there  may  be  in  all  the  strange  fairy  stories 
which  are  so  common  in  certain  parts  of  the  country. 
Sometimes  a  temporary  accession  of  clairvoyance,  which 
is  by  no  means  uncommon  among  the  inhabitants  of 
lonely  mountainous  regions,  enables  some  belated  way- 
farer to  watch  their  joyous  gambols;  sometimes  strange 
tricks    are    played   upon    some    terrified    victim,    and    a 

28 


HAUNTING8,  SPIRITUALISTIC  SEA-^CES 

glamour  is  cast  over  liim,  making  him,  for  example, 
see  houses  and  people  where  he  knows  none  really  exist. 
And  this  is  frequently  no  mere  momentary  delusion,  for 
a  man  will  sometimes  go  through  quite  a  long  series  of 
imaginary  but  most  striking  adventures,  and  then  sud- 
denly find  that  all  his  brilliant  surroundings  have  van- 
ished in  a  moment,  leaving  him  standing  in  some  lonely 
valley  or  on  some  wind-swept  plain.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is 'by  no  means  safe  to  accept  as  founded  on  fact  all 
the  popular  legends  on  the  subject,  for  the  grossest 
superstition  is  often  mingled  with  the  theories  of  the 
peasantry  about  these  beings. 

To  the  same  entities  must  be  attributed  a  large  por- 
tion of  what  are  called  physical  phenomena  at  spirit- 
ualistic seances— indeed,  many  a  seance  has  been  given 
entirely  by  these  mischievous  creatures.  Such  a  perform- 
ance might  easily  include  many  very  striking  items,  such 
as  the  answering  of  questions  and  delivery  of  pretended 
messages  by  raps  or  tilts,  the  exhibition  of  "spirit 
lights,"  the  apport  of  objects  from  a  distance,  the  read- 
ing of  thoughts  which  were  in  the  mind  of  any  person 
present,  the  precipitation  of  writings  or  drawings,  and 
€ven  materializations. 

In  fact,  the  nature-spirits  alone,  if  any  of  them  hap- 
pened to  be  disposed  to  take  the  trouble,  could  give  a 
seance  equal  to  the  most  wonderful  of  which  we  read; 
for  though  there  may  be  certain  phenomena  which  they 
would  not  find  it  easy  to  reproduce,  their  marvelous 
power  of  glamour  would  enable  them  without  difficulty 
to  persuade  the  entire  circle  that  these  phenomena  also 
had  duly  occurred— unless,  indeed,  there  were  present 
a  trained  observer  who  understood  their  arts  and  knew 
how  to  defeat  them.  As  a  general  rule,  whenever  silly 
tricks  or  practical  jokes  are  played  at  a  seance,  we  may 
infer  the  presence  either  of  low-class  nature-spirits,  or 
of  human  beings  who  were  of  a  sufficiently  degraded 
type  to  find  pleasure  in  such  idiotic  performances  dur- 
ing life. 


A   PRIMER  OF  THEOSOPHY 

To  understand  the  methods  by  which  a  large  class  of 
phenomena  are  produced,  it  is  necessary  to  have  some 
comprehension  of  the  various  resources  which  a  person 
functioning  on  the  astral  plane  finds  at  his  command; 
the  mere  possession  of  astral  vision  by  a  being  would 
at  once  account  for  his  capability  to  produce  many  re- 
sults that  seem  very  wonderful  to  us — such,  for  ex- 
ample, as  the  reading  of  a  passage  from  a  closed  book; 
and  when  we  remember,  furthermore,  that  this  faculty 
includes  the  power  of  thought-reading  to  the  fullest 
extent,  and  also,  when  combined  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  projection  of  currents  in  the  astral  light,  that 
of  observing  a  desired  object  in  almost  any  part  of  the 
world,  we  see  that  a  good  many  of  the  phenomena  of 
clairvoyance  are  explicable  even  without  rising  above 
this  level. 

True,  trained,  and  absolutely  reliable  clairvoyance 
calls  into  operation  an  entirely  different  set  of  facul- 
ties, but  as  these  belong  to  a  higher  plane  than  the 
astral,  they  form  no  part  of  our  present  subject.  The 
faculty  of  accurate  prevision,  again,  appertains  alto-~ 
gether  to  that  higher  plane,  yet  flashes  or  reflections  of 
it  frequently  show  themselves  .to  purely  astral  sight, 
more  especially  among  simple-minded  people  who  live 
under  suitable  conditions — what  is  called  "second-sight" 
among  the  Highlanders  of  Scotland  being  a  well-known 
example. 

It  will  be  readily  understood  that  superphysical 
forces  and  the  methods  of  managing  them  are  not  sub- 
jects about  which  much  can  be  written  for  publication  at 
present,  though  there  is  reason  to  suppose  that  it  may 
not  be  very  long  before  at  any  rate  some  applications 
of  one  or  two  of  them  come  to  be  known  to  the  world 
at  large. 

First,  there  are  great  etheric  currents  constantly 
sweeping  over  the  surface  of  the  earth  from  pole  to 
pole  In  volume  which  makes  their  power  as  irresistible 
as  that  of  the  rising  tide,  and  there  are  methods   by 

30 


FORCES  OF  THE  ASTRAL  PLAXE 

which  this  stupendous  force  may  be  safely  utilized, 
though  unskilful  attempts  to  control  it  would  be  fraught 
with  frightful  danger. 

Secondly,  there  is  what  can  best  be  described  as  an 
etheric  pressure,  somewhat  corresponding  to,  though 
immensely  greater  than,  the  atmospheric  pressure.  In 
ordinary  life  we  are  as  little  conscious  of  one  of  these 
pressures  as  we  are  of  the  other,  but  nevertheless  they 
both  exist,  and  if  science  were  able  to  exhaust  the  ether 
form  a  given  space,  as  it  can  exhaust  the  air,  the  one 
could  be  proved  as  readily  as  the  other.  The  difficulty 
of  doing  that  lies  in  the  fact  that  matter  in  the  etheric 
condition  freely  interpenetrates  matter  in  all  states 
below  it,  so  that  there  is  as  yet  no  means  within  the 
knowledge  of  our  physicists  by  which  any  given  body 
of  ether  can  be  isolated  from  the  rest.  Practical  Occult- 
ism, however,  teaches  how  this  can  be  done,  and  thus 
the  tremendous  force  of  etheric  pressure  can  be  brought 
into  play. 

Thirdly,  there  is  a  vast  store  of  potential  energy 
which  has  become  dormant  in  matter  during  the  involu- 
tion of  the  subtle  into  the  gross,  and  by  cnanging  the 
condition  of  the  matter  some  of  this  may  be  liberated 
and  utilized,  somewhat  as  latent  energy  in  the  form 
of  heat  may  be  liberated  by  a  change  in  the  condition 
of  visible  matter. 

Fourthly,  many  striking  results,  both  great  and  small, 
may  be  produced  by  an  extension  of  a  principle  which 
may  be  described  as  that  of  sympathetic  vibration. 

Since  it  is  possible  by  an  alteration  of  vibrations  to 
change  matter  from  the  solid  to  the  etheric  condition,  it 
will  be  comprehended  that  it  is  also  possible  to  reverse 
the  process  and  to  bring  etheric  matter  into  the  solid 
state.  As  the  one  process  explains  the  phenomenon  of 
disintegration,  so  does  the  other  that  of  materialization; 
and  just  as  in  the  former  case  a  continued  effort  of  will 
is  necessary  to  prevent  the  object  from  resuming  its 
original  state,  so  in  exactly  the  same  way  in  the  latter 

31 


A   PRIMER   OF  THEOSOPHY 

phenomenon  a  continued  effort  is  necessary  to  prevent 
the  materialized  matter  from  relapsing  into  the  etheric 
condition. 

In  the  materializations  seen  at  an  ordinary  seance, 
such  matter  as  may  be  required  is  borrowed  as  far  as 
possible  from  the  medium's  etheric  double — an  operation 
which  is  prejudicial  to  his  health,  and  also  undesirable 
in  various  other  ways.  Thus  is  explained  the  fact  that 
the  materialized  form  is  usually  strictly  confined  to 
the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  medium,  and  is 
subject  to  an  attraction  which  is  constantly  drawing  it 
back  to  the  body  from  which  it  came,  so  that  if  kept 
away  from  the  medium  too  long  the  figure  collapses, 
and  the  matter  which  composed  it,  returning  to  the 
etneric  condition,  rushes  back  instantly  to  its  source. 

In  some  cases  there  is  no  doubt  that  dense  and  visible 
physical  matter  also  is  temporarily  removed  from  the 
body  of  the  medium,  however  difficult  it  may  be  for  us 
to  realize  the  possibility  of  such  a  transfer. 

The  reason  why  the  beings  directing  a  seance  find  it 
easier  to  operate  in  darkness  or  in  very  subdued  light 
will  now  be  manifest,  since  their  power  would  usually 
be  insufficient  to  hold  together  a  materialized  form  or 
even  a  "spirit  hand"  for  more  than  a  very  few  seconds 
amidst  the  intense  vibrations  set  up  oy  brilliant  light. 

^laterializations  are  of  three  kinds: — First,  those 
which  are  tangible  but  not  visiuie;  second,  those  which 
are  visible  but  not  tangible;  and  third,  those  which  are 
both  visible  and  tangible.  To  the  first  kind,  which  is 
much  the  most  common,  belong  the  invisible  spirit 
hands  which  so  frequently  stroke  the  faces  of  the  sit- 
ters or  carry  small  objects  about  the  room,  and  the 
vocal  organs  from  which  the  "direct  voice"  proceeds. 
In  this  case,  an  order  of  matter  is  being  used  which 
can  neither  reflect  nor  obstruct  light,  but  which  is 
capable  under  certain  conditions  of  setting  up  vibrations 
in  the  atmosphere  which  affect  us  as  sound. 

A    variation    of    this    class    is    that    kind    of    partial 

32 


MATERIALIZATION,  REDUPLICATION, 

materialization  which,  though  incapable  of  reflecting 
any  light  that  we  can  see,  is  yet  able  to  affect  some  of 
the  ultra-violet  rays,  and  can  therefore  make  a  more  or 
less  definite  impression  upon  the  camera,  and  so  pro- 
vide us  with  what  are  known  as  "spirit  photographs." 

When  there  is  not  sufficient  power  available  to  pro- 
duce a  perfect  materialization  we  sometimes  get  the 
vaporous-looking  form  which  constitutes  our  second 
class,  and  in  such  a  case  the  "spirits"  usually  warn  their 
sitters  that  the  forms  which  appear  must  not  be 
touched.  In  the  rarer  case  of  a  full  materialization 
there  is  sufficient  power  to  hold  together,  at  least  for  a 
few  moments,  a  form  which  can  be  both  seen  and 
touched. 

Another  phenomenon  closely  connected  with  this  part 
of  the  subject  is  that  of  reduplication,  which  is  pro- 
duced by  simply  forming  a  perfect  mental  image  of  the 
object  to  be  copied,  and  then  gathering  about  that  mould 
the  necessary  astral  and  physical  matter.  Of  course  for 
this  purpose  it  is  necessary  that  every  particle,  interior 
as  well  as  exterior,  of  the  object  to  be  duplicated  should 
be  held  accurately  in  view  simultaneously,  and  conse- 
quently the  phenomenon  is  one  which  requires  consid- 
erable power  of  concentration  to  perform.  Persons  un- 
able to  extract  the  matter  required  directly  from  the 
surrounding  ether  have  sometimes  borrowed  it  from  the 
material  of  the  original  article,  which  in  this  case  would 
be  correspondingly  reduced  in  weight. 

The  precipitation  of  letters  or  pictures,  like  everything 
else,  may  be  obtained  in  several  ways.  An  Adept  wish- 
ing to  communicate  with  some  one  might  place  a  sheet 
of  paper  before  him,  form  a  mental  image  of  the  writ- 
ing which  he  wished  to  appear  upon  it,  and  draw  from 
the  ether  the  matter  wherewith  to  objectify  that  im- 
age; or  if  he  preferred  to  do  so  it  would  be  equally  easy 
for  him  to  produce  the  same  result  upon  a  sheet  of 
paper  lying  before  his  correspondent,  whatever  might 
be  the  distance  between  them. 

33 


A   PRIMER  OF  THEOSOPHY 

A  third  method  which,  since  it  saves  time,  is  much 
more  frequently  adopted,  is  to  impress  the  whole  sub- 
stance of  the  letter  on  the  mind  of  some  pupil,  and 
leave  him  to  do  the  mechanical  work  of  precipitation. 
That  pupil  would  then  take  his  sheet  of  paper,  and, 
imagining  he  saw  the  letter  written  thereon  in  his  Mas- 
ter's hand,  would  proceed  to  objectify  the  writing  as 
before  described.  If  he  found  it  difficult  to  perform 
simultaneously  the  two  operations  of  drawing  his  ma- 
terial from  the  surrounding  ether  and  precipitating  the 
writing  on  the  paper,  he  might  have  either  ordinary  ink 
or  a  small  quantity  of  coloured  powder  on  the  table 
beside  him,  which,  being  already  dense  matter,  could  be 
drawn  upon  more  readily. 

As  to  speed,  a  pupil  new  to  the  work  of  precipitation 
would  probably  be  able  to  image  only  a  few  words  at  a 
time,  and  would,  therefore,  get  on  hardly  more  rapidly 
than  if  he  wrote  his  letter  in  the  ordinary  way,  but  a 
more  experienced  individual  who  could  visualize  a  whole 
page  or  perhaps  the  entire  letter  at  once  would  get 
through  his  work  with  greater  facility.  It  is  in  this 
manner  that  quite  long  letters  are  sometimes  produced 
in  a  few  seconds  at  a  seance. 

When  a  picture  has  to  be  precipitated  the  method  is 
precisely  the  same,  except  that  here  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  the  entire  scene  should  be  visualized  at 
once,  and  if  many  colours  are  required  there  is  the 
additional  complication  of  manufacturing  them,  keeping 
them  separate,  and  reproducing  accurately  the  exact 
tints  of  the  scene  to  be  represented.  Evidently  there 
is  scope  here  for  the  exercise  of  the  artistic  faculty,  and 
it  must  not  be  supposed  that  every  inhabitant  of  the 
astral  plane  could  by  this  method  produce  an  equally 
good  picture;  a  man  who  had  been  a  great  artist  in  life, 
and  had  therefore  learnt  how  to  see  and  what  to  look 
for,  would  certainly  be  very  much  more  successful  than 
the  ordinary  person  if  he  attempted  precipitation  when 
on  the  astral  plane  after  death. 

34 


PRECIPITATION 

The  slate-writing,  for  the  production  of  which  under 
test  conditions  some  of  the  greatest  mediums  have  been 
so  famous,  is  sometimes  produced  by  precipitation, 
though  more  frequently  the  fragment  of  pencil  en- 
closed between  the  slates  is  guided  by  a  spirit  hand,  of 
which  only  just  the  tiny  points  sufficient  to  grasp  it 
are  materialized. 

An  occurrence  which  occasionally  takes  place  at 
seances,  and  more  frequently  among  Eastern  Yogis,  is 
what  is  called  levitation — that  is,  the  floating  of  a  human 
body  in  the  air.  No  doubt  when  this  takes  place  in 
the  case  of  a  medium,  he  if  often  simply  upborne  by 
"spirit  hands,"  but  there  is  another  and  more  scientific 
method  of  accomplishing  this  feat  which  is  always  used 
in  the  East,  and  occasionally  here  also.  Occult  science 
is  acquainted  with  a  means  of  neutralizing  or  even 
entirely  reversing  the  attraction  of  gravity,  and  it  is 
obvious  that  by  the  judicious  use  of  this  power  all  the 
phenomena  of  levitation  may  be  easily  produced.  It 
was  no  doubt  by  a  knowledge  of  this  secret  that  some  of 
the  air-ships  of  ancient  India  and  Atlantis  were  raised 
from  the  earth  and  made  light  enough  to  be  readily 
moved  as  directed;  and  not  improbably  the  same  ac- 
quaintance with  nature's  finer  forces  greatly  facilitated 
the  labours  of  those  who  raised  the  enormous  blocks 
jDf  stone  sometimes  used  in  cyclopean  architecture,  or 
%i  the  building  of  the  Pyramids  and  Stonehenge. 

It  is  by  the  aid  of  the  etheric  elemental  essence  also 
that  the  remarkable  feat  of  handling  fire  unharmed  is 
generally  performed,  though  there  are  as  usual  other 
ways  in  which  it  can  be  done.  The  thinnest  layer  of 
etheric  substance  can  be  so  manipulated  as  to  be  abso- 
lutely impervious  to  heat,  and  when  the  hand  of  a 
medium  or  sitter  is  covered  with  this  he  may  pick  up 
burning  coal  or  red-hot  iron  with  perfect  safety.* 


•These  facts  about  the  astral  world  have  been  taken 
almost  bodily  from  the  classical  little  book  by  Mr.  C.  W. 
Leadbeater,  "The  AstTal  Plane." 

35 


A   PRIMER   OF  THEO SOPHY 

The  Heaven  World  is  the  mental  or  thought-plane 
world  next  beyond  the  astral  plane  and  one  step  nearer 
the  true  source  of  being  or  the  world  of  heaven.  In  its 
higher  part  the  ego  has  consciousness  in  the  causal 
body.  This  is  his  true  home,  whence,  "trailing  clouds 
of  glory,"  he  successively  puts  on  his  garments  of  mind 
body,  astral  body,  and  physical  body  in  incarnation. 
When  the  experiences  apportioned  by  the  Lords  of 
Karma  for  the  incarnation  have  been  gained  in  the 
earthly  life  and  the  physical  body  is  cast  off,  a  similar 
process  occurs  in  the  astral  body  after  a  period  of  life 
in  the  astral  world  of  a  few  hours,  days,  months,  or 
years,  according  to  the  life  lived  on  earth. 

Death,  from  the  stand-point  of  the  ego,  is  the  ad- 
justment of  the  focus  of  consciousness  from  the  things 
of  the  physical  to  those  of  the  astral,  and  then  to  those 
of  the  heaven  world.  The  states  of  consciousness  and 
happiness  in  this  period  of  the  ego's  evolution  are  sym- 
bolically described  in  the  various  stories  of  heaven  to 
be  found  in  all  the  great  religions.  All  have  a  certain 
basis  of  fact  which  is  as  follows. 

'^xirough  every  particle  of  this  heaven  world  matter 
and  at  every  moment  of  time  the  beauty,  intense  happi- 
ness, and  inspiration  of  the  personality  of  the  Logos  is 
flashing.  It  is  the  Ideal  World  of  Plato's  imagination, 
to  be  in  touch  with  which  is  to  be  happy  beyond  the 
dream  of  mortal  mind.  All  egos  live  surrounded  by  this 
splendour  and  beauty,  which  can  be  sensed  by  the  egos 
living  in  the  heaven-life  when  unencumbered  by  the' 
lower  bodies  only  in  so  far  as  they  are  developed  and 
are  consciously,  with  love  and  knowledge,  identifying 
their  motive,  their  aspiration  and  their  thought  with  the 
will  of  the  Logos.  It  is  easiest  for  the  ego  to  gain  the 
experience  needed  in  order  to  reach  tuis  level  of  evolu- 
tion by  coming  into  touch  with  other  egos  in  their 
limited  expressions  as  personalities  on  earth.  In  so  far 
as  through  links  he  forms  with  them  he  understands  the 
true  principle  of  his  being,  he  learns  a  little  of  the  possi- 

36 


HEAVEN    AXD    ITS   LIFE 

bilities  of  life  in  his  home  of  heaven  by  self-sacrifice 
and  altruism  in  this  kindergarten  of  life  of  the  physical 
world.  Each  altruistic  quality  he  developes  within  him- 
self is  like  a  window  through  which  he  can  look  in  the 
heaven  world  into  the  fulness  of  life  of  the  Logos. 

All  men,  irrespective  of  race,  creed,  sex,  caste  or 
colour,  are  opening  windows  within  themselves  in  a 
thousand  and  one  ways  in  so  far  as  they  forget  them- 
selves in  thinking  and  planning  service  for  others.  This 
other  may  be  God  and  He  may  be  loved  as  Allah, 
Vishnu  or  Shiva,  or  Christ;  the  other  may  be  husband, 
wife,  child  or  friend.  It  may  be  a  great  ideal  work  in 
the  fields  of  philanthropy,  literature,  science  or  art. 
Each  form  of  dedication  to  something  not  ourselves  is 
a  window  we  are  opening  to  the  life  and  inspiration  of 
the  Logos. 

While  we  live  on  earth,  all  our  dreams  of  dedication, 
the  ideal  happiness  we  plan,  cannot  be  realized  owing 
to  the  inevitable  conditions  of  physical  life;  but  when 
the  astral  plane  life  is  over,  the  ego  has  a  life  in  the 
heaven  world,  and  all  these  dreams  of  ideal  happiness 
are  felt  by  him  intensified  a  thousand  fold,  and  now 
with  every  possibility  of  realization.  The  Logos  gives 
to  each  man  his  heaven.  The  Christian  is  happy  in 
communion  with  Christ  and  the  Virgin  Mary  or  the 
saints;  the  Buddhist  lives  happy  in  the  inspiration  of 
the  personality  of  the  Buddha,  and  the  Hindu  lives  with 
Krishna  and  Rama  and  the  Gods  of  his  pantheon;  the 
philosopher  is  intensely  happy  in  working  out  as  he 
never  could  before  the  problems  of  existence;  the 
husician  makes  music  undreamt  of  by  Beethoven;  the 
scientist  revels  in  the  discovery  of  wonderful  new 
natural  truths;  the  simple-minded  soul  that  was  only 
capable  of  gentle  aff'ection  to  wife  and  child  lives  with 
them,  realizing  and  enacting  all  that  he  meant  to  do 
for  them  and  failed. 

According  to  the  capacity  developed  by  the  ego  in  the 
life  on  earth  is  the  length  of  his  life  in  this  heaven  of 

37 


A   PRIMER  X>F  WHEO  SOPHY 

the  mental  world.  It  may  vary  from  a  few  dozen  years 
in  the  case  of  a  child  personality  that  dies  young,  to 
twenty  centuries  and  more  when  the  life  that  is  closed 
has  been  a  long  one  of  great  sacrifice  and  aspiration. 

When  this  period  comes  to  an  end  the  ego  is  better 
equipped  than  ever  to  live  the  real  life.  Aspirations 
have  been  transmuted  into  capacities,  experiences  have 
been  grouped  into  laws  and  concepts.  But  yet  there  is 
much  work  to  do;  the  fulness  of  life  that  awaits  him 
is  infinitely  greater  still,  and  to  qualify  himself  to  know 
more  of  that  life,  to  open  new  windows  in  himself,  he 
descends  once  again  into  the  lower  realms;  he  rein- 
carnates, returning  to  reap  what  he  has  sown  in  past 
lives,  to  sow  in  goodness  and  virtue  what  he  shall  reap 
again. 

Thought-forms.  When  man  thinks,  the  result  of  the 
action  is  expressed  in  a  definite  "thought"  which  is  made 
up  of  atomic  or  will-plane  matter  which  holds  together 
the  ether  of  the  mental  plane  to  the  formation  of  a 
"thought  form"  more  or  less  definite  in  character.  Mrs.i 
Annie  Besant  and  Mr.  C.  W,  Leadbeater*  say: 

"This  thought-form  may  not  inaptly  be  compared  to  a 
Leyden  jar,  the  coating  of  living  essence  being  symbol- 
ized by  the  jar,  and  the  thought  energy  by  the  charge 
of  electricity.  If  the  man's  thought  or  feeling  is  di- 
rectly connected  with  someone  else,  the  resultant 
thought-form  moves  towards  that  person  and  dis- 
charges itself  upon  his  astral  and  mental  bodies.  If 
the  man's  thought  is  about  himself,  or  is  based  upon  a 
personal  feeling,  as  the  vast  majority  of  thoughts  are, 
it  hovers  round  its  creator  and  is  always  ready  to  react 
upon  him  whenever  he  is  for  a  moment  in  a  passive 
condition.  For  example,  a  man  who  yields  himself  to 
thoughts  of  impurity  may  forget  about  them  while 
he  is  engaged  in  the  daily  routine  of  business,  even 
though  the  resultant  forms  are  hanging  round  him  in  a 


•Thought-forms. 

38 


THOUGHTS— THEIR   VALUE  AND  EFFECTS 

heavy  cloud,  because  his  attention  is  otherwise  directed 
and  liis  astral  body  is  therefore  not  impressable  by  any 
other  rate  of  vibration  than  its  own.  When,  however, 
the  marked  vibration  slackens  and  the  man  rests  after 
his  labors  and  leaves  his  mind  blank  as  regards  definite 
thought  he  is  very  likely  to  feel  the  vibration  of  im- 
purity stealing  insidiously  upon  him.  If  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  man  be  to  any  extent  awakened,  he  may 
perceive  this  and  cry  out  that  he  is  being  tempted  by 
the  devil;  yet  the  truth  is  that  the  temptation  is  from 
without  only  in  appearance,  since  it  is  nothing  but  tne 
natural  reaction  upon  him  of  his  own  thought  forms. 
Each  man  travels  through  space  enclosed  within  a  cage 
of  his  own  building,  surrounded  by  a  mass  of  the  forms 
created  by  his  habitual  thoughts.  Through  this  medium 
he  looks  out  upon  the  world,  and  naturally  he  sees 
everything  tinged  with  its  predominant  colors,  and  all 
rates  of  vibration  which  reach  him  from  without  are 
more  or  less  modified  by  its  rate.  Thus  until  the  man 
learns  complete  control  of  thought  and  feeling,  he  sees 
nothing  as  it  really  is,  since  all  his  observations  must 
be  made  through  this  medium,  which  distorts  and  colors 
everything  like  badly-made  glass. 

"Red  of  all  shades,  from  lurid  brick-red  to  brilliant 
scarlet,  indicates  anger;  brutal  anger  will  show  as 
flashes  of  lurid  red  from  dark  brown  clouds,  while  the 
anger  of  "noble  indignation"  is  a  vivid  scarlet,  by  no 
means  unbeautiful,  though  it  gives  an  unpleasant 
thrill;  a  particularly  dark  and  unpleasant  red,  almost 
exactly  the  color  called  dragon's  blood,  shows  animal 
passion  and  sensual  desire  of  various  kinds. 

"Clear  brown  (almost  burnt  sienna)  shows  avarice; 
hard  dull  brown-grey  is  a  sign  of  selfishness — a  color 
which  is  indeed  painfully  common;  deep  heavy  grey 
signifies  depression,  while  a  livid  pale  grey  is  associated 
with  fear;  grey-green  is  a  signal  of  deceit,  while  brown- 
ish-green (usually  flecked  with  points  and  flashes  of 
scarlet)  betokens  jealousy. 

39 


A   PRIMER   OF   THE080PHY 

"Green  seems  always  to  denote  adaptability;  in  the 
lowest  case,  when  mingled  with  selfishness,  this  adapta- 
bility becomes  deceit;  at  a  later  stage,  when  the  color 
becomes  purer,  it  means  rather  the  wish  to  be  all  things 
to  all  men,  even  though  it  may  be  chiefly  for  the  sake  of 
becoming  popular,  and  bearing  a  good  reputation  with 
them;  in  its  still  higher,  more  delicate  and  more  lum- 
inous aspect,  it  shows  the  divine  power  of  sympathy. 

''Affection  expresses  itself  in  all  shades  of  crimson  and 
rose;  a  full  clear  carmine  means  a  strong  healthy  af- 
fection of  normal  type;  if  stained  heavily  with  brown- 
grey,  a  selfish  and  grasping  feeling  is  indicated,  while 
pure  pale  rose  marks  that  absolutely  unselfish  love 
which  is  possible  only  to  high  natures;  it  passes  from 
the  dull  crimson  of  animal  love  to  the  most  exquisite 
shades  of  delicate  rose,  like  the  early  flushes  of  the 
dawning,  as  the  love  becomes  purified  from  all  selfish 
elements,  and  flows  out  in  wider  and  wider  circles  of 
generous  impersonal  tenderness  and  compassion  to  all 
who  are  in  need.  With  a  touch  of  the  blue  of  devotion 
in  it,  this  may  express  a  strong  realisation  of  the  uni- 
versal brotherhood  of  humanity. 

"Deep  orange  imports  pride  or  ambition,  and  the  vari- 
ous shades  of  yellow  denote  intellect  or  intellectual 
gratification,  dull  yellow  ochre  implying  the  direction 
of  such  faculty  to  selfish  purposes,  while  clear  gamboge 
shows  a  distinctly  higher  type,  and  pale  luminous  prim- 
rose yellow  is  a  sign  of  the  highest  and  most  unselfish 
use  of  intellectual  power,  the  pure  reason  directed  to 
spiritual  ends. 

"The  different  shades  of  blue  all  indicate  religious 
feeling,  and  range  through  all  hues  from  the  dark 
brown-blue  of  selfish  devotion,  or  the  pallid  grey-blue 
of  fetish-worship  tinged  with  fear,  up  to  the  rich  deep 
clear  color  of  heartfelt  adoration,  and  the  beautiful 
pale  azure  of  that  highest  form  which  implies  self- 
renunciation  and  union  with  the  divine;  the  devotional 
thought  of  an  unselfish  heart  is  very  lovely  in  color, 

40 


THE  PLANE  OF  BLISS 

like  the  deep  blue  of  a  summer  sky.  Through  such 
clouds  of  blue  will  often  shine  out  golden  stars  of  great 
brilliancy,  darting  upwards  like  a  shower  of  sparks.  A 
mixture  of  affection  and  devotion  is  manifested  by  a 
tint  of  violet,  and  the  more  delicate  shades  of  this  in- 
variably show  the  capacity  of  absorbing  and  responding 
to  a  high  and  beautiful  ideal.  The  brilliancy  and  depth 
of  the  colors  are  usually  a  measure  of  the  strength  and 
the  activity  of  the  feeling." 

The  Buddhic  Plane.  During  the  long  ages  of  evolu- 
tion the  ego  lives  in  his  causal  body  in  the  higher  part 
of  the  mental  plane.  In  this  vehicle  he  translates  all 
experiences  of  his  personalities  in  terms  of  universal 
law.  He  still  retains  the  consciousness  of  himself  as 
separate  from  his  fellow  men.  He  knows,  however,  in 
theory,  that  all  souls  are  rooted  in  God  and  that  there 
is  a  unity  binding  them  all  together. 

It  is,  however,  when  the  ego  learns  to  focus  his  con- 
sciousness in  the  next  higher  world,  the  Buddhic  plane, 
that  his  conception  of  life  once  again  is  modified.  On 
this  plane  "all  limitations  begin  to  fall  away,  and  the 
consciousness  of  man  expands  until  he  realizes,  no  longer 
in  theory  only,  but  by  absolute  experience,  that  the 
consciousness  of  his  fellows  is  included  within  his  own, 
and  he  feels  and  knows  and  experiences  with  an  abso- 
lute perfection  of  sympathy  all  that  is  in  them,  because 
it  is  in  reality  a  part  of  himself."*  All  those  he  loves 
no  longer  exist  outside  his  consciousness,  but  they  live 
within  him,  and  so  he  understands  every  thought  and 
feeling  of  theirs  in  a  new  way.  He  retains  fully  his 
own  personal  memories,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  in 
ways  not  describable  in  words,  his  friend  and  the 
friend's  experience  are  a  part  of  his  own. 

The  ego,  in  trying  to  understand  another  from  the 
buddhic  plane,  knows  him  from  within,  together  with 
his   past,   present   and   future,   and  not   from   without, 


*Leadbeater,  "The  Devachanic  Plane." 
41 


A   PRIMER  OF  THEOSOPHY 

for  he  lives  as  a  part  of  the  ego's  consciousness. 

Nirvana  is  the  next  world  beyond  the  Buddhic  plane, 
that  realm  of  nature  so  often  described  in  Indian  re- 
ligious writings.  In  exoteric  Buddhism,  owing  to  its  de- 
parture from  the  Wisdom  Religion,  Nirvana  is  often  ex- 
pounded as  a  cessation  of  the  individual  consciousness, 
and  therefore  to  be  described  as  annihilation.  The 
Theosophical  conception  is  quite  the  reverse  and  is  the 
conception  of  esoteric  Buddhism. 

If  the  consciousness  of  the  ego,  working  on  the  Bud- 
dhic plane,  senses  the  falling  away  of  barriers  between 
soul  and  soul,  and  feels  that  the  limitations  of  indi- 
vidual life  disappear,  existence  in  Nirvana  is  nearer  the 
divine  life  still.  No  term  can  give  more  than  a  vague 
idea  of  what  Nirvana  is,  but  one  thing  is  distinctly 
asserted  by  the  occult  tradition,  that  it  is  beneficent 
life  and  activity  of  a  kind  that  our  lower  human  con- 
sciousness cannot  realize.  It  is  true  that  the  limitations 
of  individual  consciousness  fall  away,  but  not  into  an- 
nihilation or  absorption,  like  a  drop  into  the  ocean. 
Far  rather  is  it  that  the  individual  consciousness  enters 
upon  a  new  mode  of  existence  where,  without  losing 
his  individual  characteristics,  the  ego  makes  his  indi- 
viduality like  a  lens  through  which  can  oe  focussed  the 
life  and  consciousness  of  the  Logos.  It  is  a  state  of 
being  beyond  any  experience  that  men  outside  the  ranks 
of  Initiates  have,  and,  therefore,  cannot  be  described 
in  any  term  of  our  every-day  experience  except  by 
negatives. 

It  is  "an  inexhaustible  positivity  which  bursts  through 
every  conceptual  form  and  makes  every  determination 
an  impossibility."*  If  the  ocean  of  universal  life  were 
to  be  suddenly  contained  in  the  limited  consciousness  of 
the  drop,  we  should  have  a  simile  that  would  be  some- 
v;hat  true  of  the  state  of  consciousness  of  the  Adept, 
who,  though  he  lives  and  works  with  men  on  the  phys- 

*Hoeflfding,  "Philosophy  of  Religion." 

42 


BASIC  DOCTRINES   OF  THEOSOPHY 

ical  plane,  yet  has  his  center  of  being  rooted  in  Nirvana 
and  can  say,  as  we  cannot  yet,  "I  and  my  Father  are 
one."  The  adept  then  may  be  conscious  of  all  things 
within  the  consciousness  of  the  Logos  of  our  world. 

(C.  J.) 

By  re-incarnation  is  meant  a  renewed  manifestation 
of  the  ego  upon  the  lower  planes.  When  a  man  "dies" 
he  gives  up  and  leaves  his  physical  body  with  its 
etheric  double.  After  living  for  a  few  years  without 
this  vehicle,  identifying  himself  with  the  ideas  and 
feelings  to  be  derived  from  contact  with  the  things  of 
the  astral  plane,  he  lays  aside  the  astral  body.  When 
the  mental  body,  too,  has  been  discarded,  after  the 
period  of  heaven-life  is  over,  the  soul  exists  in  his  ful- 
ness as  ego,  and  not  in  a  limited  way  as  a  man  or 
woman. 

The  ego,  the  real  man  or  thinker,  is  not  able  to 
manifest  himself  entirely  upon  the  lower  planes  of  con- 
sciousness. The  men  and  women  whom  we  see  about  us 
we  see  and  know  but  partially.  They  are  greater, 
grander,  far  more  ideal  than  they  seem  to  be,  because 
the  divine  or  more  permanent  part  of  them  cannot  be 
known  by  us.  With  each  return  to  life  in  physical  bodies 
new  phases  of  the  ego  are  presented  for  manifestation. 
The  ego  is  required  to  live  in  bodies  and  under  condi- 
tions of  environment  that  offer  at  once  aids,  incentives 
and  resistance  to  his  action  in  this  or  that  direction. 
Working  against  resistance  and  supplied  with  this  or 
that  equipment  of  personality  the  ego  learns  the  needed 
lessons  of  a  physical  life-period,  gains  in  force,  wisdom 
or  power  of  affection  or  devotion.  The  ego  has  volition, 
the  power  of  choice  and  determination  of  courses  of 
action  within  certain  limits.  But  chiefly  has  he  some 
degree  of  volition  within  the  domain  of  desire  and 
af:;piration. 

Karma  is  the  return  effect  of  actions  on  any  or  all 
the  planes  upon  the  ego  and  upon  the  world.  Every 
volition,  every   aspiration,   every   thought,  every  desire 

43 


A    PRIMER   OF   THE080PHY 

and  every  action  has  both  its  direct  and  its  rebounding 
eflfects.  All  expenditures  of  energy  that  aid  in  evolu- 
tion are  accredited  to  the  beneficent  side  of  the  ledger, 
all  actions  detrimental  to  the  development  of  man  and 
nature  are  placed  upon  the  opposite  side.  Of  course 
the  progress  of  general  evolution  carries  all  men  onward 
and  all,  benefited  by  its  action,  are  aided  in  evolving. 

Karmic  law  is  always  in  action  upon  us.  It  is  ad- 
ministered by  the  great  devas  called  The  Lords  of 
Karma.  We  are  affected  by  our  own  karma,  by  the 
karma  of  the  World,  of  the  nation  in  which  we  live  and 
of  our  neighbors  and  friends.  We  may  be  happily  or 
unhappily  afTected  at  any  moment  by  the  action  of 
recently  originated  karma  or  by  the  effects  of  aspira- 
tions, thoughts,  desires  and  acts  brought  over  from  other 
lives.  People  often  speak  of  the  karma  as  good  when 
it  brings  the  objects  of  earthly  desire  and  the  conditions 
for  happiness,  while  they  think  of  bad  karma  as  that 
which  brings  present  distress  and  suffering.  But  it  must 
be  remembered  that  the  purpose  of  life  is  the  evolution 
of  souls,  that  we  are  to  learn  and  to  grow.  Hence  the 
conditions  in  which  we  find  ourselves  are  those  in  which 
we  must  learn  certain  lessons  and  develop  strength  in 
certain  parts  or  phases  of  the  soul.  So  no  Karma 
can  be  regarded  as  in  reality  evil.  Its  purpose  is  benefi- 
cent. And  when  our  lessons  are  learned  we  find  the 
karma  suddenly  changing,  either  in  outward  character 
or  in  its  meaning  for  us.  Of  course  we  are  not  to  lie 
supine  under  karmic  burdens,  helpless  to  join  in  efforts 
for  the  good  of  others.  We  must  grasp  our  situation 
firmly  and  endeavor  to  alter  or  modify  it  to  suit  our 
growing  ideas  of  life  and  its  purpose,  remembering  that 
our  duty  as  a  rule  is  plain  and  clear  and  thai;  the 
smaller  aspect  of  ourselves  is  not  to  be  considered  in 
casting  up  our  accounts. 

It  is  the  karma  of  a  man  added  to  the  other  influences 
which  have  determined  his  status  in  evolution  that 
causes  him  to  be  placed  in  this  or  that  family,  to  have 

44 


THE  ACTION  OF  KARMA 

this  or  that  kind  of  a  body,  to  be  a  member  of  this 
nation  or  of  that  one.  His  afflictions,  his  joys,  his  sor- 
rows, are  determined  by  his  own  life  and  previous  in- 
carnations. In  reality  he  has  had  but  one  life  with  its 
varying  phases  of  manifestation  on  earth,  in  the  astral 
world,  in  the  world  of  heaven  and  in  return  to  earth. 
His  own  tendencies  of  feeling,  thought  and  action  are 
more  or  less  exactly  carried  over  from  life  to  life. 

The  karma  of  the  whole  world  depends  upon  the 
receptivity  of  the  world  and  its  willingness  to  obey.  As 
human  society  progresses  from  one  phase  of  its  evolu- 
tion to  another  it  has  opportunities  to  lag  or  to  progress 
rapidly.  Its  very  advanced  members — the  Masters — 
constitute  our  link  with  the  unembodied  members  of 
the  hierarchy  that  rules  the  world.  Their  plans  include 
the  presentation  to  mankind  as  a  body  as  well  as  in 
aggregations  in  nations  and  as  individuals,  opportuni- 
ties for  rapid  progress.  All  the  agencies  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  men  in  all  departments  of  being  are  in  Their 
hands.  As  humanity  can  be  brought  to  see  the  beauties 
of  the  higher  life,  it  is  taught  to  aspire  to  the  living 
of  that  life  and  this  aspiTation  brings  about  its  realiza- 
tion in  the  same  or  succeeding  incarnations.  Individ- 
uals, nations  and  races  are  trained  as  the  cycles  and  the 
opportunities  afforded  in  them  by  the  Logos  permit. 
Civilizations  are  built  up  on  the  basis  of  one  or  more 
great  central  ideas  and  purposes  around  which  lesser 
ones  are  grouped.  These  civilizations  are  provided  by 
the  Brothers  with  their  educational  ideals,  religions  ap- 
propriate to  their  needs,  with  their  supply  of  facts  per- 
taining to  such  of  the  laws  of  nature  as  they  need  and 
to  which  their  Karma  entitles  them. 

As  time  passes  there  will  be  given  more  and  more 
favorable  opportunities  for  men  to  recognize  the  Law, 
that  is,  to  realize  that  God  works  through  a  definite 
plan  with  the  aid  of  myriads  of  more  or  less  self-con- 
scious agents.  More  and  more  they  will  come  to  see 
that  the  world  of  physical  manifestation  is  not  the  only 

45 


A   PRIMER   OF   THE080PHY 

one  existent  about  them.  They  will  recognize  that  the 
law  of  evolution  is  universally  active  and  that  active 
cooperation  with  that  law  and  its  administrators  brings 
peace  with  the  knowledge  that  one  and  all  are  being 
aided  in  their  evolution  and  that  the  sufferings  of  the 
world  are  being  lightened  by  their  efforts. 

Karma  is,  then,  the  law  of  causation,  the  law  of  cause 
and  effect.  It  was  put  pointedly  by  the  Christian 
Initiate,  St.  Paul:  "Be  not  deceived:  God  is  not  mocked: 
for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap." 
Man  is  continually  using  forces  on  the  planes  on  which 
he  functions;  these  forces,  the  quantity  and  quality  of 
which  are  determined  by  his  past  activities,  he  uses  in 
each  world  he  inhabits;  they  bring  about  certain  definite 
effects  both  on  himself  and  on  others  for  which  he  is 
karmically  responsible. 

Let  it  never  be  forgotten,  whether  details  are  under- 
stood or  not,  that  each  man  makes  his  own  karma, 
creating  alike  his  own  capacities  and  his  own  limita- 
tions; and  that  working  at  any  time  with  these  self- 
created  capacities,  and  within  these  self-created  limita- 
tions, he  is  still  himself,  the  living  soul,  and  can 
strengthen  or  weaken  his  capacities,  enlarge  or  contract 
his  limitations. 

"Look!  the  clay  dries  into  iron,  but  the  potter  moulds 
the  clay;  destiny  today  is  master;  man  was  master  yes- 
terday." (W.  V-H.) 

Re-Incarnation — A  Parable.  A  boy  went  to  school. 
He  was  very  little.  All  that  he  knew  he  had  drawn  in 
with  his  mother's  milk.  His  teacher  (who  was  God) 
placed  him  in  the  lowest  class,  and  gave  him  these  les- 
sons to  learn:  Thou  shalt  not  kill.  Thou  shalt  do  no 
hurt  to  any  living  thing.  Thou  shalt  not  steal.  So  the 
man  did  not  kill;  but  he  was  cruel,  and  he  stole.  At 
the  end  of  the  day  (when  his  beard  was  gray, — when 
the  night  was  come),  his  teacher  (who  was  God)  said: 
Thou  hast  learned  not  to  kill.  But  the  other  lessons 
thou  hast  not  learned.     Come  back  tomorrow. 

46 


MAN'S  LATENT  POWERS 

On  the  morrow  he  came  back,  a  little  boy.  And  his 
teacher  (who  was  God)  put  him  in  a  class  a  little 
higher,  and  gave  him  these  lessons  to  learn:  Thou 
shalt  do  no  hurt  to  any  living  thing.  Thou  shalt  not 
steal.  Thou  shalt  not  cheat.  So  the  man  did  no  hurt 
to  any  living  thing;  but  he  stole,  and  he  cheated.  And 
at  the  end  of  the  day  (when  his  beard  was  gray,— when 
the  night  was  come),  his  teacher  (who  was  God)  said: 
Thou  hast  learned  to  be  merciful.  But  the  other  lessons 
thou  hast  not  learned.     Come  back  tomorrow. 

Again,  on  the  morrow,  he  came  back,  a  little  boy. 
And  his  teacher  (who  was  God)  put  him  in  a  class  yet 
a  little  higher,  and  gave  him  these  lessons  to  learn: 
Thou  shalt  not  steal.  Thou  shalt  not  cheat.  Thou 
shalt  not  covet.  So  the  man  did  not  steal;  but  he 
cheated  and  he  coveted.  And  at  the  end  of  the  day 
(when  his  beard  was  gray,— when  the  night  was  come), 
his  teacher  (who  was  God)  said:  Thou  hast  learned  not 
to  steal.  But  the  other  lessons  thou  hast  not  learned. 
Come  back,  my  child,  tomorrow. 

This  is  what  I  have  read  in  the  faces  of  men  and 
women,  in  the  book  of  the  world,  and  in  the  scroll  of 
the  heavens,  which  is  writ  with  stars. 

— Berry  Benson,  The  Century,  May,  1894. 
The  Deific  Powers  Latent  in  Man.  If  man  is  to  be- 
come, after  myriad  ages,  a  god,  as  we  in  common  with 
religionists  believe,  he  must  be  evolving  into  the  image 
and  likeness  of  his  Maker,  now  partly  or  wholly  con- 
cealing within  him  the  germs  of  such  powers  as  will 
make  him  divine.  To  investigate  these  powers  rational- 
ly and  to  develop  them  for  the  service  of  men,  of  course 
under  the  control  and  direction  of  a  Master,  is  one  of 
the  occultist's  duties.  To  do  this  now  is  to  anticipate 
the  longer  and  in  some  respects  easier  course  of  Nature. 
We  are  encouraged  to  offer  ourselves  for  this  service  in 
order  that,  if  accepted,  we  may  aid  in  hastening  the 
evolution  and  lightening  the  burdens  of  the  great  mass 
of  humanity  who  are  to  follow  this  longer  road. 

47 


A    PRIMER   OF  THE080PHY 

These  powers  are  those  known  as  the  siddhis  among 
v.'hich  are  clairvoyance,  telepathy,  levitation,  the  occult; 
transportation  of  bodies  and  the  materialization  by  the 
occultist  of  a  physical  body  at  a  distance. 

"Clairvoyance,"  says  Mr.  C.  W.  Leadbeater  (Clair- 
voyance, p.  5),  "means  literally  nothing  more  than 
clear  seeing."  For  the  purpose  of  occultism,  "we  may, 
perhaps,  define  it  as  the  power  to  see  what  is  hidden 
from  ordinary  physical  sight."  It  may  be  limited 
to  vision  pertaining  to  the  things  of  the  etheric  levels 
of  the  physical  plane.  But  it  may  also  include  the 
things  of  the  astral  and  lower  mental  levels.  There 
is  a  corresponding  power  which  puts  its  possessor  in 
touch  with  the  affairs  of  the  upper  mental  and  the  budd- 
hic  planes. 

The  clairvoyance  which  is  possessed  by  people  who 
have  not  been  specially  trained  is  extremely  untrust- 
worthy and  uncertain.  It  can  be  applied  only  fitfully 
and  its  results  are  of  no  great  value. 

The  same  faculty,  trained  and  carefully  developed 
under  the  tuition  of  a  Master,  for  the  purpose  of  apply- 
ing it  to  spiritual  uses  of  the  utmost  importance  to 
humanity,  places  its  possessor  in  correspondence  with 
the  affairs  of  the  higher  worlds,  enabling  him  to  see  and 
hear  what  is  going  on  about  him  at  the  time  in  these 
realms  and  also  to  cognize  the  facts  and  conditions  at 
points  remote  in  both  space  and  time.  Hence  not  only 
is  such  a  man  a  seer  for  the  present  but  also  for  the 
past.  Under  certain  restrictions  he  may  also  investigate 
some  of  the  affairs  of  the  future.  But  the  Master  does 
not  undertake  this  development  except  for  those  who 
are  desirous  of  using  the  new  faculties  in  complete 
harmony  with  His  purposes  which  pertain  in  the  end 
solely  to  the  affairs  of  the  spiritual  world.  Accounts  of 
these  powers,  their  nature,  the  methods  by  which  they 
may  have  developed  and  the  ways  in  which  they  shall 
be  used  are  to  be  found  in  a  number  of  books  by  our 
writers. 

48 


CLAIRVOYANCE,  TELEPATHY 

Psychometry  is  the  power,  closely  related  to  that  of 
clairvoyance,  of  reading  the  records  of  past  happenings 
pertaining  to  those  persons,  things  and  events  formerly 
associated  with  an  object  of  the  physical  plane.  For 
example,  a  skilled  psychometer  can  place  himself  in 
correspondence  with  the  past  of  a  weapon,  a  garment, 
a  stone,  and  tell  what  battles,  what  wearers,  what 
buildings  they  were  respectively  concerned  with  in  the 
past. 

Telepathy  is  closely  allied  to  clairvoyance  and  depends 
on  the  transmission  of  thoughts  in  one  way  or  another. 
One  of  the  simplest  ways  in  which  telepathy  is  prac- 
ticed is  by  the  projection  of  thought-forms  from  one 
person  to  another.  The  person  sending  the  thought 
assumes  a  positive,  the  one  receiving  it  taking  a  more 
passive  role.  The  positive  operator's  thought-form,  of 
etheric  matter  vibrating  at  a  certain  rate,  comes  to  the 
negative  recipient's  presence  and  causes  to  rise  in  his 
mind  a  thought  of  like  kind  and  quality. 

Psychical  Research  and  The  Sub-Conscious  Mind. 
There  are  few  things  of  greater  interest  to  the  intelli- 
gent inquirer  than  what  is  termed  the  Sub-conscious 
Mind  or  the  Subliminal  Self.  The  enormous  mass  of  facts 
gathered  in  the  by-paths  of  psychology  and  through 
psychical  research  can  be  grouped  in  an  orderly  manner 
with  a  knowledge  of  Theosophy. 

Psychical  research  is  the  application  of  ordinary  scien- 
tific methods  of  investigation  to  the  study  of  a  large 
mass  of  facts  that  psychologists  and  biologists  as  yet 
believe  to  be  incomprehensible  and  so  not  within  the 
domain  of  present  day  science.  It  is  true  that  in  this 
fiield  possibilities  of  error  are  great,  to  the  inexperienced 
investigator;  but  one  that  is  trained  finds  in  it  data 
looking  to  the  establishment  of  exact  scientific  laws. 
Patient  observation  and  experiment  bring  to  light  many 
startling  facts,  of  which  perhaps  the  most  revolutionary 
(from  the  materialistic  standpoint)  is  what  Theosophy 
has  for  ages  been  teaching — that  man  is  not  the  simple 

49 


A   PRIMER  OF  TEE080PHY 

entity  he  appears,  composed  of  a  body,  with  only  the 
mental  and  moral  qualities  in  the  one  life.  The  facts 
of  multiple  personality  show  the  soul  of  man  to  be  com- 
parable to  an  iceberg,  of  which  but  one-eighth  appears 
above  the  surface  of  the  water,  the  rest  being  submerged. 
The  part  that  appears  may  have  a  definite  contour,  yet  it 
is  not  the  whole  but  a  part ;  and  if  through  a  change  of 
its  centre  of  gravity  the  iceberg  turns  over  and  shows 
above  the  surface  a  different  corner,  this  is  none  the  less 
a  part  of  the  same  berg. 

Behind  each  of  us  is  the  larger  consciousness  of  the 
ego  in  the  causal  body.  It  is  he  that  is  the  evolving 
soul — immortal,  growing  in  wisdom  and  capacity,  by 
the  many  personalities  he  expresses  himself  through, 
life  after  life,  to  gain  experience.  The  ego  has  had 
personalities  on  earth,  as  man  and  as  woman;  many  a 
time  in  savage  "races  in  far  off  days;  later  in  China, 
Egypt,  India,  Greece,  Rome  and  elsewhere.  All  these 
experiences  are  within  his  memory  and  he  is  slowly 
transmuting  them  into  concepts  and  divine  ideas.  The 
personalities  of  a  remote  age  have  been  assimilated, 
but  those  of  the  more  recent  lives  are  still  before  him 
as  of  himself.  Egos  differ  in  capacity  according  to  the 
length  of  their  evolution.  There  are  some  who  are 
geniuses  along  certain  lines,  and  in  the  front  ranks  of 
humanity;  the  mass  of  egos  are  still  in  the  kindergarten 
stage  of  life.  The  quality  of  genius  is  the  result  of  hard 
work  the  ego  has  done  through  many  lives  along  a 
particular  line. 

Each  ego  manifests  on  realms  lower  than  his  own 
world  of  heaven  as  a  personality,  which  is  a  partial 
expression  of  himself,  never  the  whole.  He  puts  on  as 
garments : 

1.  A  mind-body,  suitable  to  his  own  temperament  and 
developed  as  the  result  of  past  thought,  but  having  a 
life  of  its  own,  which  he  must  learn  to  control. 

2.  An  astral  body,  giving  him  in  the  astral  world  his 
instrument  of  desire.     The  astral  body,  too,  has  a  life 

50 


THE   ''SUB-CONSCIOUS   MIND" 

or  its  own;  its  likes  and  dislikes,  are  not  necessarily  the 
ego's  now,  though  they  are  the  result  of  what  the  ego 
liked  and  disliked  in  his  recent  lives. 

3.  A  physical  body.  This,  too,  is  exactly  what  he 
has  deserved  by  his  karma.  It  is  a  living  body,  with  a 
slight  degree  of  consciousness  of  its  own  separate  from 
that  of  the  man. 

The  normal  life  of  the  personality  partly  reflects  the 
ego,  only  just  so  much  of  him  being  manifest  as  is 
sufficient  for  obtaining  the  experiences  of  the  incarna- 
tion. This  may  be  cultured  and  philosophic,  or  worldly 
and  selfish,  according  to  the  gi'owth  of  the  ego.  But 
this  normal  life  may  be  interfered  with  in  two  ways: 

First,  by  a  rush  of  thought  and  feeling  from  the 
Super-self,  the  Super-conscious  Mind;  then  we  have  a 
phenomenon  where  the  ego  expresses  for  the  time  being 
more  of  his  true  qualities.  These  are  the  moments  of 
genius  and  inspiration.  These  moments  may  be  when 
through  some  tension  the  normal  resistance  of  the 
vehicles  to  the  action  of  the  ego  is  broken  down. 

This  may  happen  following  proper  evolutionary  proc- 
esses, as  through  a  purified  and  saint-like  life,  in  med- 
itation and  contemplation;  it  may  also  happen,  but  with 
great  danger  and  as  a  reversionary  process,  if  the  re- 
sistance of  the  vehicles  is  broken  down  through  ill- 
health,  over-stimulation  and  hysteria. 

Secondly,  the  normal  life  can  be  interfered  with  when 
the  Sub-conscious  Mind  ousts  the  normal  consciousness. 
This  happens  when  the  mental  or  astral  or  physical 
bodies  take  things  into  their  own  hands,  and  the  ego 
for  the  moment  has  lost  control.  When  a  man  is  ob- 
sessed by  a  fixed  idea,  or  a  hallucination,  or  is  unbal- 
anced or  insane,  this  sub-conscious  mind  has  sway;  this 
happens  through  some  form  of  ill-health,  or  lack  of 
tone  of  the  vehicles,  especially  of  the  mind-body.  In 
automatic  writing  the  sub-conscious  is  often  evident. 
Similarly  is  it  when  in  a  fit  of  rage  a  man  commits  a 
crime;  the  astral  body  for  the  moment  ousts  the  normal 
self. 

51 


A   PRIMER   OF  THEOSOPHY 

Some  forms  of  hysteria  are  due  to  the  action  of  the 
physical  body  consciousness.  This  body  consciousness  is 
child-like  in  treasuring  trivial  experiences  for  years,  in 
exaggerating  them,  and  every  now  and  then  it  takes 
charge,  dispossessing  the  normal  self.  Hence  sometimes 
occur  terrors  of  various  kinds,  of  darkness,  death,  the 
unknown,  and  hallucinations. 

Man  is  briefly  a  Super-conscious  Mind,  the  Ego;  a 
Normal  Self,  a  personality  in  man's  or  woman's  form; 
and  a  Sub-conscious  Mind,  the  totality  of  thoughts, 
likes  and  dislikes  of  his  living  instruments,  his  ve- 
hicles. (C.  J.) 

Occult  Physics.  One  of  the  powers  of  a  clairvoyant, 
trained  under  Adept  teachers,  is  the  ability  to  gain  a 
vision  of  the  almost  infinitely  minute.  As  by  an  ar- 
rangement of  lenses  in  a  microscope  tiny  organisms  can 
be  magnified,  so  that  the  human  eye  can  watch  their 
structure  and  life,  by  a  similar  process,  but  without 
the  aid  of  physical  instruments,  the  clairvoyant  can  see, 
magnified,  the  atom  and  the  electron. 

Various  chemical  and  electrical  phenomena  can  be  ob- 
served by  clairvoyance  and  new  and  wonderful  laws 
deduced.  One  of  the  important  facts  observable  is  the 
relation  that  matter,  as  our  senses  cognize  it,  has  to 
finer  orders  of  matter. 

Clairvoyant  vision  discloses  several  distinct  states  of 
matter  and  within  each  state  seven  sub-states.  The 
physical  state  of  matter  with  which  we  are  all  familiar 
exists  in  the  three  known  sub-states,  solid,  liquid  and 
gaseous,  as  well  as  in  four  others  of  the  order  of  radiant 
matter.  Next  comes  a  finer  state  of  matter  called  astral 
(or  starry  from  its  luminous  quality)  with  seven  sub- 
states  of  diff'erent  degrees  of  density.  Then  follows 
mental  matter,  Buddhic  matter,  Nirvanic  matter  and  the 
ethers  of  two  other  higher  states. 

The  universe  we  live  in  is  composed  of  these 
seven    fundamental    states    of    matter    which    provide 

52 


THEOSOPHY  AND  PHYSICS 

realms  or  fields  of  consciousness  which  we  call  the  planes 
of  nature.  A  finer  otder  of  matter  fills  up  the  inter- 
stices between  particles  of  a  coarser  order,  just  as  solids, 
liquids  and  gases  can  exist  in  one  and  the  same  space, 
as  when  a  bottle  is  filled  with  sand  to  which  water  is 
added,  the  water  being  then  "aerated"  by  compressed 
gas.  The  several  planes  of  nature  and  their  sub-states 
are  all  about  us  and  through  us  everywhere. 

Each  state  of  matter  has  its  own  peculiarities  and 
laws.  Physical  matter  is  affected  by  heat,  cold  and 
gravity  as  we  usually  know  it.  Astral  matter  is  special- 
ly responsive  to  the  rapid  vibrations  of  the  astral  body 
of  man.  The  mental  matter  is  specially  sensitive  to  the 
forces  sent  out  from  the  mind-body  and  a  man's  thought 
is  seen  as  a  disturbance  in  this  matter,  often  precipitat- 
ing in  some  definite  form,  called  a  thought-form. 

The  outer  world  in  its  physical  aspect  is  sensed  by 
the  ego  by  means  of  a  physical  body  which  is  provided 
with  a  brain  and  nervous  system.  The  nerves  respond- 
ing to  the  vibrations  of  physical  matter  transmit  im- 
pulses to  the  brain,  which  passes  them  on  to  the  ego 
interpreted  in  terms  of  sight,  sound,  taste,  touch  and 
smell.  The  vibrations  thrown  off  by  physical  matter 
in  motion  are  innumerable;  only  a  few  limited  groups  of 
them  are  sensed  by  us.  We  do  not,  as  a  rule,  respond 
to  the  finer  vibrations  of  the  X-ray  and  electricity. 
It  is  easily  evident  that  of  the  physical  world  in  its 
fulness  we  know  only  a  small  fraction  by  the  direct 
means  of  the  senses. 

The  finer  part  of  the  cosmos  represented  by  astral 
matter  is  sensed  by  the  clairvoyant  by  means  of  a 
sensitiveness  which  the  average  person  has  not  yet 
developed.  The  same  is  the  case  with  the  knowledge 
of  the  higher  realms:  each  plane  of  nature  can  be  seen 
and  examined  by  the  clairvoyant  who  develops  the 
special  order  of  sensitiveness  appropriate  to  that  plane. 

It  must  be  understood  that  a  person  exercising,  for 
instance,  the  sight  of  the  astral  world  does  not  neces- 

53 


A   PRIMER  OF  THE080PHY 

sarily  cease  to  be  conscious  of  the  physical  plane.  He  is 
conscious  of  both  and  at  any  given  instant  he  can  focus 
his  vision  either  in  the  astral  or  in  the  physical.  When 
in  the  course  of  the  development  of  the  ego  the  powers 
of  clairvoyance  are  unfolded,  the  man's  normal  con- 
sciousness is  thenceforward  centered  in  the  highest  plane 
with  which  he  is  in  touch,  and  the  concentration  of  his 
attention  on  a  lower  plane  means  a  deliberate  limitation 
of  his  powers  of  consciousness;  he,  for  the  moment, 
descends,  and  when  the  work  is  done  he  reascends  to  his 
own  plane. 

For  instance,  a  Master  of  Wisdom  lives  in  all  his  full 
powers  in  the  plane  of  Nirvana;  yet  he  may  have  a 
physical  body  and  be  speaking  or  writing.  But  when  he 
speaks  or  writes  on  the  physical  plane  it  means  a  de- 
liberate, though  instantaneous,  self-limitation  in  order 
to  focus  his  consciousness  into  a  lower  realm.  The  Adept 
that  lives  in  the  world  with  mankind  lives  there  only  a 
partial  existence,  for  he  cannot  express  through  the 
capabilities  of  physical,  astral  or  mental  matter  all  the 
manifold  divine  attributes  existing  within  him  in  their 
fulness. 

The  Structure  of  Matter.  All  the  vareties  of  matter 
of  the  seven  great  planes  are  made  up  of  one  type  of 
corpuscle.  These  inconceivably  small  corpuscles  are  not 
themselves  matter,  though  they  are  sensed  by  us  as 
such;  they  are  in  reality  tiny  points  of  force,  units  of 
consciousness  of  the  Cosmic  Logos  driving  back  an  inde- 
scribable substance  called  in  Eastern  philosophy  Mu- 
laprakriti  or  root-matter  which  the  physicist  terms  the 
aether.  Our  matter  is  not  this  omnipresent  aether;  it 
is  composed  of  those  vacancies  in  the  aether  created  by 
the  Logos.  These  vacancies,  as  before  mentioned,  are 
filled  with  force,  and  are  the  result  of  the  exercsie  of  the 
will  of  the  Logos  to  drive  back  from  given  points  the 
tremendous  pressure  of  the  root-matter;  they  exist  only 
so  long  as  His  will  is  manifest  in  this  way.  However, 
they   are   cognized  by   us   as   matter,   physical,  astral^ 

54 


STRUCTURE  OF  TEE  ATOM 


The  Spirillae  of  the  Atom. 


mental,  and  so  on.  The 
universe  is  plunged  in  a 
field  of  aether,  but,  para- 
doxical as  it  may  seem, 
any  given  part  of  the 
universe  we  come  into 
touch  with  is  just  where 
the  aether  is  not. 

These  corpuscles  are 
grouped  in  definite  num- 
bers and  in  definite  ways 
to  form  the  various  types 
of  matter.  By  the  exer- 
cise of  high  powers  of 
clairvoyant  magnification  it  is  possible  to  calculate 
fairly  approximately.  As  in  a  blood  count  the  his- 
tologist  can  estimate  roughly  the  number  of  blood 
corpuscles  in  a  certain  given  quantity  of  blood, 
so  too,  the  clairvoyant  investigator,  taking  phys- 
ical, astral  and  mental  atoms  can  magnify  them 
and  taking,  as  it  were,  sections  of  them,  can  come  to  a 
general  idea  of  the  number  of  corpuscles  in  a  unit  of  any 
given  state  of  matter. 

Thus,  for  instance,  when  a  unit  of  the  lightest  known 
gas,  hydrogen,  is  taken,  it  is  seen  to  be  made  up  of 
eighteen  smaller  units.  Similarly,  when  a  unit  of  gold  is 
examined,  it  is  seen  to  have  3546  smaller  units.  Like 
units  to  the  number  of  4087  exist  in  radium,  and  4267 
in  uranium.  All  the  substances  known  as  chemiijal 
elements  are  seen  to  be  made  up  of  these  units,  with 
eighteen  for  a  particle  of  hydrogen.  From  this  eighteen 
to  the  4267  of  uranium  there  exist  the  intermediate  ele- 
ments and  the  exact  number  of  units  in  a^y  one  ele- 
ment can  be  counted  by  clairvoyant  examination.  These 
units  in  all  the  elements  are  seen  to  be  of  the  same 
general  construction.  We  call  them  physical  atoms. 
The  general  appearance  of  one  is  given  in  the  accom- 


55 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

panying  diagram.  There  are  two  types  of  physical 
atoms,  one  in  which  the  spiral  twist  is  to  the  right,  and 
in  the  other  to  the  left.  The  former  shows  a  positive 
electrical  quality,  the  latter  a  negative  one.  For  a  fuller 
description  of  the  movements  and  energies  of  the  atom 
see  '"Occult  Chemistry"  by  Annie  Besant  and  C.  W.  Lead- 
beater. 

It  will  be  seen  in  the  diagram  that  the  atom  consists 
of  ten  parallel  strands  wound  spirally  three  and  one-half 
times  outside  and  similarly  three  and  one-half  times 
inside  round  the  core.  The  general  appearance  is  that 
of  a  wiry  body.  It  seems  at  first  sight  a  living,  solid 
thing,  but  with  higher  power  of  magnification  it  is  seen 
to  be  made  up  of  currents  of  force,  vortices  of  energy, 
rather  than  actual  substance.  It  is  noticeable  that 
when  the  vibrations  of  the  sun's  rays  impinge  upon  the 
atom,  one  or  more  of  the  seven  thinner  strands  begin 
to  vibrate  more  rapidly  and  give  rise  to  the  colors  of  the 
solar  spectrum.  The  three  thicker  strands  become 
specially  active  when  the  atom  is  affected  by  electricity. 

If  any  section  of  these  ten  parallel  strands  is  magni- 
fied, it  is  seen  to  be  a  spiral,  and  careful  observation 
shows  that  one  strand  is  made  up  of  1680  smaller 
spirals,  which  we  call  a  spirilla  of  the  first  order.  When 
a  spirilla  of  the  first  order  is  in  its  turn  magnified,  it 
is  seen  to  be  made  up  of  seven  spirals,  called  the 
spirillae  of  the  second  order.  A  spirilla  of  the  sec- 
ond order  is  itself  made  up  of  seven  spirals  called 
those  of  the  third  order;  higher  and  higher  powers  of 
magnification  show  this  complicated  spiral  construction 
throughout,  till  we  find  that  a  spirilla  of  the  third 
order  has  seven  of  the  fourth;  one  of  the  fourth  has 
seven  of  the  fifth;  a  spirilla  of  the  fifth  has  seven  of 
the  sixth  and  one  of  the  sixth  is  made  up  of  seven  of 
the  seventh.  A  spirilla  of  the  last  and  seventh  order  is 
seen  to  consist  of  seven  corpuscles  held  spirally. 

It  is  found  that  the  thicker  nature  of  the  three  elec- 
trical strands  of  the  atom  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  100 

56 


THE    CHEMICAL    ELEMENTS 

spirillae  of  the  seventh  order  in  these  three  there  are 
704  corpuscles,  not  700  as  in  the  other  parts  of  the 
atom;  that  further  704  spirillae  of  the  seventh  order 
go  to  make  up  700  spirillae  of  the  sixth,  704  of  the 
sixth  make  700  of  the  fifth  and  so  on.  This  slight 
increase  in  the  number  of  corpuscles  makes  the  three 
electrical  bands  larger  than  the  seven  color  bands. 

Counting  by  sections  it  is  found  that  in  one  physical 
atom  there  exists  something  over  fourteen  thousand  mill- 
ions of  corpuscles. 

It  is  found  that  astral  matter  exists  in  many  astral 
elements,  but,  as  with  physical  matter,  they  are  aggre- 
gations of  astral  units  called  atoms.  An  astral  atom  in 
its  general  appearance  and  construction  is  like  the  phys- 
ical; it,  too,  is  made  up  of  the  fundamental  corpuscles, 
but  the  difference  is,  that  only  one  forty-ninth  of  the 
number  required  for  a  physical  atom  is  utilized  to  forni 
an  astral  one.  Similarly  it  is  found  that  the  atom  of 
the  mental  world  is  made  up  of  one  forty-ninth  the 
number  required  to  form  an  astral  atom. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  fundamental  types  of  matter, 
represented  by  the  physical  atom,  the  astral  atom,  the 
mental  atom,  and  the  rest,  are  all  built  up  of  one  com- 
mon type,  the  corpuscle,  which,  in  reality,  is  a  point  of 
consciousness  within  the  existence  of  the  Logos.  It  is 
His  power  that  holds  so  many  millions  of  these  cor- 
puscles in  a  given  formation,  as,  for  instance,  a  mental 
atom;  forty-nine  times  that  number  of  corpuscles  He 
uses  for  an  astral  atom,  and  forty-nine  times  this  latter 
number  He  uses  to  form  a  physical  atom.  As  long  as 
His  energy  holds  the  forty  thousand  millions  in  a  certain 
definite  structure  the  physical  atom  exists. 

It  is  possible  to  change  one  order  of  matter  into  an- 
other. If  a  force  is  brought  to  bear  on  the  physical 
atom,  such  that  the  power  of  the  Logos  that  holds  its 
corpuscles  in  that  formation  is  counteracted,  this  power 
at  once  utilizes  those  same  corpuscles  and  forms  of  them 
forty-nine  astral  atoms.     In  other  words  the  energy  of 

57 


A   PRIMER   OF  THE080PHT 

one  physical  atom  can  be  made  to  disappear  from  the 
physical  plane,  but  it  will  then  rearrange  the  corpuscles 
of  that  physical  atom  as  forty-nine  astral  ones.  Thus, 
for  instance,  hydrogen  can  be  broken  up  from  its  phys- 
ical condition  into  a  finer  one.  In  hydrogen  there  are 
eighteen  physical  atoms;  by  will  power  as  well  as  by 
electricity  a  force  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  each  of 
these  eighteen  to  disintegrate  them  and  each  then  re- 
arranges itself  as  forty-nine  astral  atoms;  every  unit 
of  hydrogen  will  thus  give  rise  to  882  astral  atoms. 
It  is  these  astral  atoms  that  are  now  being  labeled  by 
the  physicist  by  the  term  electron. 

The  atom  itself  is  evolving.  The  corpuscles  are  held 
in  their  several  spirals  by  appropriate  spiral  movements 
of  forces.  Seven  such  forces  exist  within  the  atom  (not 
counting  the  forces  affecting  the  atom  as  a  whole);  but 
so  far  in  the  evolutionary  process  only  four  are  in  full 
activity,  the  other  three  being  as  it  were  embryonic. 

As  aeons  pass,  these  latent  forces  will  be  called  into 
activity,  one  by  one,  by  the  energy  of  the  Logos,  and 
in  the  ages  to  come,  matter  itself  will  be  a  fuller  and 
more   powerful   manifestations   of  His   will.  C.  J. 

Theosophy  and  Spiritualism.  Theosophists  fully  credit 
all  the  facts  in  Spiritualism  that  prove  the  survival  of 
the  human  personality  after  death.  The  work  that 
Spiritualism  has  done  in  giving  this  proof  to  millions 
is  the  most  remarkable  achievement  of  this  movement. 
"Wliile  fully  admitting  that  the  dead  can  come  back, 
and  do  under  certain  conditions,  as  in  the  spiritualistic 
seance,  Theosophists  hold  that  to  call  the  dead  into 
touch  once  more  with  earth  conditions  retards  their 
evolution.  Wlien  the  physical  body  is  put  aside  the 
ego  is  slowly  coming  into  touch  with  a  higher  phase  of 
life  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  physical  world.  In  the 
evolutionary  scheme  of  things,  man  after  death  is  not 
intended  to  be  conscious  of  physical  life  until  he  returns 
in  a  new  body  at  reincarnation. 

There  are  a  few  cases  where  a  man  after  death  instead 

58 


THEOSOPHY  AND  SPIRITUALISM 

of  passing  to  the  fuller  life  is  so  worried  concerning 
things  done  or  undone  during  life  that  he  can  be  helped 
by  being  given  an  opportunity  through  a  medium  to 
communicate  with  the  living,  and  so  put  matters  right. 
But  these  cases  are  very  rare,  and  usually  calling  the 
dead  back  to  communicate  with  us  who  are  on  the 
physical  plane  hinders  their  evolution.  Furthermore, 
every  consolation  which  we  gain  by  communicating  with 
those  that  have  gone  before,  we  can  gain  outside  of 
seances  when  we  understand  the  fact  that  during  the 
sleep  of  our  bodies  we  live  in  the  astral  world  where 
are  those  dead  friends  of  ours,  and  during  sleep  we  can 
rise  to  their  world  and  so  be  with  them  as  before  death 

Mediumship  is  in  a  large  percentage  of  cases  extreme- 
ly harmful  to  the  moral  welfare  of  the  medium,  and  on 
general  principles  no  one  should  give  up  his  volition  and 
allow  himself  to  be .  controlled  by  some  outside  agency 
who  cannot  be  controlled  readily  from  the  side  of  the 
living,  but  who  can  control  the  medium.  The  medium, 
furthermore,  is  at  any  moment  liable  to  be  under  the 
control  not  only  of  his  guiding  guardian  spirit,  but  also 
of  any  undeveloped  and  depraved  entity  as  well. 

"As  to  the  entities  who  may  'communicate'  at  a  seance 
or  may  obsess  and  speak  through  an  entranced  medium, 
their  name  is  simply  legion;  there  is  hardly  a  single 
class  among  all  the  varied  inhabitants  of  the  astral 
plane  from  whose  ranks  they  many  not  be  drawn,  though 
after  the  explanations  given  it  will  be  readily  under- 
stood that  the  chances  are  very  much  against  their 
coming  from  a  high  one.  A  manifesting  "spirit"  is  often 
exactly  what  it  professes  to  be,  but  often  also  it  is 
nothing  of  the  kind;  and  for  the  ordinary  sitter  there 
is  absolutely  no  means  of  distinguishing  the  true  from 
the  false,  since  the  extent  to  which  a  being  having  all 
the  resources  of  the  astral  plane  at  his  command  can 
delude  a  person  on  the  physical  plane  is  so  great  that 
no  reliance  can  be  placed  even  on  what  seems  the  most 
convincing  proof." 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPEY 

Since  all  the  phenomena  of  Spiritualism  can  be  es- 
tablished as  facts  along  different  lines  of  investigation, 
there  is  little  use  in  experimenting  with  spiritualism, 
except  for  the  hardened  materialist,  for  there  is  little 
satisfactory  or  reliable  knowledge  to  be  obtained  con- 
cerring  man's  evolution  from  spiritualistic  investiga- 
tions. C.  J. 

THEOSOPHY  AND  MASONRY. 

The  symbolism  of  Masonry  is  rich,  inherent  and  in- 
sistent. At  every  turn  one  finds  in  its  printed  and 
otherwise  executed  emblems  many  of  the  symbols  which 
from  time  immemorial  have  served  to  give  men  certain 
visible,  concrete  representations  of  their  relationships 
to  their  Maker.  The  many  symbols  which  Masons  em- 
ploy are,  each  of  them,  well  worth  study.  Each  of  them 
has  its  own  general  meaning,  its  direct  reference  to  a 
phase  of  God's  being  or  activity  and  each  of  them  may 
have  its  own  special  explanation.  But  the  explanations 
which  are  given  in  the  dictionaries  of  the  craft  are 
brief  and  inadequate,  though  suggestive.  They  contain 
the  statement  that  this  or  that  symbol  has  reference 
to  certain  phases  of  God's  manifestation  to  man  or  of 
man's  return  to  Him.  But  if  the  origin  of  the  symbol 
is  traced  and  if,  at  the  same  time,  the  reference  to  the 
Divine  Being  is  studied,  an  entire  volume  might  be 
written.  Indeed  many  volumes  have  been  written. 
But  the  glory  of  the  symbol  remains  undisturbed.  Like 
that  for  which  it  stands  it  is  permanent,  enduring,  un- 
changing, ready  to  be  used  by  other  men  in  their  study 
of  God  and  His  relations  to  men. 

These  symbols  were  not  picked  up,  discovered  or  in- 
vented by  men  in  ancient  monasteries  or  temples.  They 
were  given  to  men  directly  from  on  High  by  the  min- 
isters of  God.  Their  deeper  meaning  is  so  recondite 
that  it  could  never  have  been  discovered  by  man  without 
such  aid. 

60 


THEOSOPHY  AND  MASONRY 

The  ritualism  of  Masonry  is  of  equally  great  value. 
It  teaches  truly;  it  suffices  to  invoke  Those  Powers  of 
the  heavens,  Who  deal  immediately  with  men's  for- 
tunes. These  angels  of  God  are  perpetually  within  call 
to  take  part  in  the  affairs  of  men.  They  can  be  evoked 
"by  ceremonies  and  they  can  be  propitiated  in  wonderful 
ways  by  the  appeal  to  them  with  rites.  Hence,  all  who 
take  part  in  these  rites,  take  part  in  them  to  their  own 
remote  or  immediate  advantage.  Sooner  or  later  they 
and  their  loved  ones  reap  benefits  of  high  value,  not 
only  because  they  have  done  their  duty  toward  the 
servants  of  God  who  were  at  the  moment  to  be  pro- 
pitiated but  also  because  they  have  taken  part  in  an 
associated  effort  to  carry  forward  the  great  humani- 
tarian effort  of  those  who  are  laboring  for  the  upbuild- 
ing of  mankind. 

It  is,  however,  as  the  entire  ritual  has  the  -deeper 
meaning  of  a  parallel  to  the  spiritual  development  of 
man,  that  we  find  there  is  a  value  to  masonry  which  is 
incalculable.  Man  rises  by  almost  imperceptible  grada- 
tions of  growth  from  the  level  of  savagery  to  that  of 
the  Master.  This  entire  progress  of  man  is-  given 
dramatic  representation  in  the  degrees  of  Masonry  and 
as  shown  by  Madame  H.  P.  Blavatsky  and  others  typi- 
fies the  actual  progress  of  the  soul  from  its  nakedness 
to  the  completeness  of  knowledge  and  self-mastery. 

These  deeper  meanings  of  Masonry  theosophists  con- 
tinually seek  out  and  study,  always  more  closely,  un- 
til they  find  themselves  at  one  with  the  inmost  signifi- 
cance of  the  work.  So  graciously  is  the  whole  of 
the  work  laid  out  by  its  founders  that  even  those  who 
take  but  little  part  in  it,  those  who  simply  play  a  pas- 
sive role  are  infinitely  benefited  by  its  observances. 

There  are  two  presentations  of  the  divine  wisdom 
which  are  rounded  and  satisfying;  that  given  by  Theoso- 
phy  and  that  of  Masonry.  No  religion  or  exoteric 
philosophy  can  equal  them  in  fullness  or  clearness. 
Theosophy  presents  an  open  and  avowed  discussion  of 

61 


A   PRIMER   OF  THEOSOPHY 

the   philosophy  while   Masonry  half   conceals  it  in  its 
allegory,  its  ritual  and  its  ceremonial. 

Masonry  teaches  the  everlasting  truth  in  indestructible 
forms  suitable  to  all  languages  and  all  times.  Some 
temperaments  are  better  suited  to  it  than  others.  But 
something  of  the  response  to  the  ritualistic  appeal  will 
occur  in  every  heart,  for  temperaments  are  of  the  rays 
of  the  Logos  and  every  soul  has  more  or  less  of  each  of 
the  rays  in  its  composition. 

THE   LIFE   THEOSOPHIC. 

The  Care  of  the  Body.  "Man's  body  is  fine  or  coarse 
in  its  texture  according  to  the  materials  drawn  from  the 
physical  plane  for  its  composition.  Each  subdivision  of 
matter  yields  finer  or  coarser  materials;  compare  the 
bodies  of  a  butcher  and  of  a  refined  student;  both  have 
solids*  in  them,  but  solids  of  such  difi"erent  qualities. 
Further,  we  know  that  a  coarse  body  can  be  refined,  a 
refined  body  coarsened.  The  body  is  constantly  chang- 
ing; each  particle  is  a  life,  and  the  lives  come  and  go. 
They  are  drawn  to  a  body  consonant  with  themselves, 
they  are  repelled  from  one  discordant  with  themselves. 
All  things  live  in  rhythmical  vibrations,  all  seek  the 
harmonious  and  are  repelled  by  dissonance,  A  pure  body 
repels  coarse  particles  because  they  vibrate  at  rates 
discordant  with  its  own;  a  coarse  body  attracts  them 
because  their  vibrations  accord  with  its  own.  Hence,  ir 
the  body  changes  its  rates  of  vibration,  it  gradually 
drives  out  of  it  the  constituents  that  cannot  fall  into  the 
new  rhythm,  and  fills  up  their  places  by  drawing  in 
from  external  nature  fresh  constituents  that  are  har- 
monious. Nature  provides  materials  vibrating  in  all 
possible  ways,  and  each  body  exercises  its  own  selective 
action."* 

The  purest  foods  are  those  which  are  known  through 
occult  examination  to  be  free  from  the  etheric  particles 

*Annie  Besant,  "Ancient  Wisdom." 
62 


THE  SPIRITUAL   LIFE 

-which  respond  to  vibrations  from  without  whose  rates 
are  unsatisfactory,  whose  presence  in  the  vehicles  would 
interfere  with  the  delicate  uses  to  which  they  must  be 
put.  The  flesh  of  animals  is  especially  undesirable,  as 
it  is  heavily  loaded  with  deleterious  matter.  The  prod- 
ucts of  decomposition,  as  alcohol  and  the  fermented 
cheeses,  are  to  be  set  aside.  The  dietary  may  consist 
of  cooked  grains,  vegetables,  fruits,  nuts  and  fresh 
milk;  eggs  are  added  by  some.  Modern  science  shows 
that  these  foods  are  sufficient  to  support  the  body 
under  the  most  vigorous  activity. 

Aside  from  the  choice  of  suitable  foods  the  body 
should  be  cared  for  by  scrupulous  attention  to  cleanli- 
ness, by  the  use  of  simple  but  suitable  clothing,  by 
the  most  rigid  attention  to  elimination  and  by  bear- 
ing in  mind  the  principle  of  the  body's  tendency  to 
cyclical  action,  the  same  act  being  best  performed  at 
the  same  hour  each  day. 

The  life  of  the  Theosophist  is  that  which  our  compre- 
hensions of  the  ancient  wisdom  necessarily  imposes 
upon  us  in  accordance  with  our  own  state  of  evolution, 
our  Karmic  relations  and  our  aspiration  to  serve  Those 
Who  are  wisely  aiding  in  the  plans  of  the  Logos.  The 
Theosophist  may  be  a  member  of  the  Theosophical 
Society.  He  will  certainly  be  such  if  it  is  possible  for 
him  to  compass  it.  He  may  be  an  aspirant  for  dis- 
cipleship  under  the  tutelage  of  a  Master  or  he  may 
be  an  accepted  pupil  of  One  of  Them.  In  one  sense  the 
Masters  Themselves  are  members  of  the  Society.  The 
life  characteristically  led  by  the  theosophist  does  not 
much  differ  in  outward  seeming  from  that  of  the  man 
of  the  world.  His  visible  occupations  may  be  the  same, 
but  his  thoughts  and  feelings  have  changed.  Living 
now  in  the  conviction  that  all  that  he  does  in  all  the 
planes  is  of  consequence  to  the  world  he  tries  to  order 
his  inner  life  in  such  a  way  that  he  may  be  of  greatest 
service.  He  studies  the  art  of  feeling  at  peace  by 
recognizing    the    beneficence    of    the    laws    of    evolution 

63 


A    PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

and  the  necessarily  good  outcome  of  all  the  processes 
of  nature.  The  fact  that  each  of  our  lives  Is  called  by 
the  Brothers  a  day  impresses  upon  him  the  fact  that 
what  we  do  in  each  incarnation  is  but  part  of  the  acts 
of  the  long  life-time  that  leads  to  the  end  of  evolution 
so  that  he  accepts  the  fact  that  much  which  affects 
him  he  can  never  understand  in  the  present  existence. 
His  peace  of  the  spirit  lies  in  his  unswerving  confidence 
in  the  Law  and  in  the  guidance  of  the  Master  under  it. 

The  knowledge  that  thoughts  are  entities,  that  they 
have  power  for  good  or  evil,  makes  him  careful  in  the 
extreme  of  what  he  thinks.  If  he  emits  a  thought  of 
evil  he  quickly  tries  to  annul  its  effect  and  to  properly 
maintain  discipline  over  his  own  being  by  emitting  a 
thought  of  the  opposite  intent  and  form.  Character 
building,  by  this  method  goes  on  rapidly  especially  as 
the  effort  to  lead  a  spiritual  life  is  always  followed 
by  temporary  opposition  on  the  part  of  nature.  Hence, 
as  increased  karmic  difficulties  must  be  met,  greater  re- 
sistance must  be  overcome  with  the  aid  of  much 
power  conferred.  So  greater  strength  is  developed. 
The  worldly  observer  does  not  see  theosophists  leading 
peaceful,  quiet  lives.  Their  lives  are  often  of  storm 
and  stress.  But  they  lead  to  an  inner  peace  and  calm- 
ness and  a  conviction  that  the  usefulness  of  the 
aspirant  is  daily  heightened  and  that  he  is  arrayed 
forever  among  those  who  would  aid  the  Pioneers  of 
humanity  in  Their  beneficent  efforts  to  hasten  the 
evolution  of  Man. 

The  desires  of  the  lower  type  are  set  aside  as  far  as 
possible  in  order  that  their  place  may  be  taken  by 
aspiration  for  a  realization  of  the  quickened  life  of 
the  spirit. 

In  this  labor  of  changing  his  character  and  fitting 
himself  for  the  new  life  of  helping  others  the  aspirant 
is  aided  by  the  example  and  precept  of  Those  Who 
have  gone  before.  Books  tell  of  the  diflficulties  in  the 
way  and  the  methods  to  be  used  in  overcoming  them. 

64 


BUILDING   THE   CHARACTER 

Bhagavad  Gita,  Light  on  the  Path,  The  Voice  of  the 
Silence,  The  Path  of  Discipleship,  and  The  Outer  Court 
are  recommended. 

Mrs.  Besant's  words  are  here  most  instructive: 
"How  shall  a  man  build  himself  into  purity?  By,  in 
his  morning  meditation,  taking  purity  as  part  of  the 
subject  on  wiiich  he  thinks,  realizing  what  it  means. 
No  impurity  of  thought  must  ever  touch  him;  no  im- 
purity of  action  must  ever  stain  him,  he  must  be  pure 
in  the  threefold  thread  of  action,  word  and  thought.  In 
the  morning  he  thinks  of  purity  as  a  thing  that  is 
desirable,  that  he  must  accomplish;  and  when  he  goes 
out  into  the  world  he  carries  the  memory  of  his  medi- 
tation with  him.  He  watches  his  actions;  he  allows 
no  impure  action  to  stain  his  body;  he  commits  no  im- 
pure action  aH  through  the  day,  for  he  steadily  watches 
every  action  that  no  touch  of  impurity  may  soil  it.  He 
watches  his  words.  He  speaks  no  word  that  is  impure; 
he  makes  no  reference  in  his  talk  to  an  unclean  sub- 
ject; he  never  permits  his  tongue  to  be  soiled  by  making 
an  unclean  suggestion.  Every  word  of  his  is  pure,  so 
that  he  would  dare  to  speak  it  in  the  presence  of  his 
Master,  whose  eye  sees  every  lightest  stain  of  im- 
purity which  the  ordinary  mortal  eye  would  miss.  He 
will  watch  every  word  that  it  may  be  the  purest  that 
he  can  utter,  and  he  will  never  foul  himself  or  others 
by  a  single  word  or  phrase  coarse  with  impure  sug- 
gestion. His  thought  will  be  pure.  He  will  never  allow 
an  unclean  thought  to  come  into  his  mind,  or  if  it 
comes  into  his  mind  it  will  at  once  be  cast  out;  the 
moment  the  thought  comes  he  will  cast  it  out;  and  as 
he  knows  that  it  could  not  come  into  his  mind  unless 
there  was  in  his  mind  something  to  attract  it,  he 
purifies  his  own  mind,  so  that  no  unclean  thought  of 
any  one  else  may  be  able  to  gain  entrance.  Thus  he 
watches  on  this  one  point  through  the  whole  of  his  day. 
And  then  again  he  will  take  truth  in  this  morning 
meditation;    he   will   think   of   truth,   its   value   in   the 

65 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

"world,  its  value  in  society,  its  value  in  his  own  char- 
acter; and  when  he  goes  out  into  the  world  of  men  he 
will  never  commit  an  action  that  will  give  a  false  im- 
pression, he  will  never  speak  a  word  that  conveys  a 
false  idea.  Not  only  will  he  not  lie,  but  he  will  not 
even  be  inaccurate,  because  that  also  is  speaking  a 
falsehood.  To  be  inaccurate  in  recounting  what  you 
have  seen  is  to  speak  untruth.  All  exaggeration  and 
painting  up  of  a  story,  everything  that  is  not  perfectly 
consistent  with  fact,  so  far  as  he  knows  it,  everything 
which  has  any  shade  of  untruthfulness,  may  not  be 
used  by  him  who  would  become  a  disciple.  And  so 
in  thought  again  he  must  be  true.  Every  thought  must 
be  as  true  as  he  can  make  it,  with  no  shadow  of  fa'.so- 
hood  to  pollute  his  mind.  So  with  compassion.  He 
will  meditate  on  compassion  in  the  morning  and  during 
the  day  he  will  seek  to  practice  it;  he  will  show  all 
kindness  to  people  around  him;  he  will  do  all  service 
to  family  and  friends  and  neighbours.  Wherever  he 
sees  want  he  will  try  to  relieve  it;  wherever  he  sees 
sorrow  he  will  try  to  comfort  it;  wherever  he  sees 
misery  he  will  strive  to  lighten  it.  He  will  live  com- 
passion as  well  as  think  it,  and  so  make  it  part  of  his 
character.  So  with  fortitude.  He  will  think  of  the 
nobility  of  the  strong  man,  the  man  whom  no  outer 
circumstances  can  depress  or  ela(e,  the  man  who  is  not 
joyful  over  success  nor  miserable  over  failure,  who  is 
not  at  the  mercy  of  circumstances,  sad  today  because 
tilings  are  troublesome  and  joyful  tomorrow  because 
things  are  easy.  He  will  try  to  be  himself,  always 
balanced  and  strong;  as  he  goes  out  into  the  world  he 
will  practice;  if  trouble  comes  he  will  think  of  the 
Eternal  where  no  trouble  is;  if  loss  of  money  comes, 
he  will  think  of  the  wealth  of  wisdom  that  cannot  be 
taken  away  from  him;  if  a  friend  be  snatched  by  death, 
he  will  consider  that  no  living  soul  can  die  and  that  the 
body  that  dies  is  only  the  garment  which  is  thrown 
aside  when  it  is  out-worn,  and  another  taken,  and  that 

66 


QUALIFl CATIONS    OF    THE    DISCIPLE 

his  friend  shall  be  found  again.  And  so  with  all  the 
other  virtues  of  self-restraint,  of  peaceableness,  of  fear- 
lessness— all  these  things  he  will  think  of  and  prac- 
tice. Not  all  at  once.  No  man  living  in  the  world 
would  be  able  to  give  sufficient  time  to  meditate  on 
each  of  these  every  day;  but  take  them  one  by  one, 
and  build  them  into  your  character.  Work  on  steadily: 
do  not  be  afraid  of  giving  time  to  it;  do  not  be  afraid 
of  giving  trouble  to  it.  Everything  that  you  build  you 
are  building  for  eternity,  and  you  may  well  be  patient 
in  time  when  eternity  spreads  before  you.  Everything 
you  gain,  you  gain  for  evermore.  Meditation  alone  or 
practice  alone  is  insufficient  for  the  building  of  the 
character.  Both  must  go  together;  both  must  form 
part  of  the  daily  life,  and  in  this  way  a  noble  character 
is  made. 

The  Search  for  the  Master.  A  man  who  has  thus 
trained  himself,  a  man  who  has  thus  done  the  utmost 
that  he  can  do,  who  has  given  his  time  and  thought 
and  trouble  to  make  himself  fit  to  find  the  Teacher, 
even  by  him  the  Teacher  shall  verily  be  found;  or 
rather,  the  Teacher  shall  find  him  and  manifest  Himself 
to  his  soul.  For  do  you  imagine  in  blindness  and  in 
ignorance  that  these  Teachers  desire  to  be  hidden?  Do 
you  imagine,  veiled  in  illusion,  that  They  deliberately 
hide  Themselves  from  the  eyes  of  men  in  order  to  leave 
humanity  to  stumble  helpless,  unwishful  to  aid  it  and 
to  guide?  I  tell  you  that  much  as  you  may  for  a 
moment  desire  to  find  your  Teacher,  the  Teacher  is 
a  thousand-fold  more  constant  in  His  desire  to  find 
you,  in  order  that  He  may  help.  Looking  out  over 
the  world  of  men.  They  see  so  many  helpers  are 
wanted  and  so  few  are  found.  The  masses  perish 
in  ignorance;  teachers  are  wanted  for  them  and  they 
perish  by  myriads;  there  is  none  to  help  them.  The 
great  Teachers  need  disciples  who  are  living  in  the 
lower  world,  and  who,  trained  by  the  Teachers,  shall 
go  out  into  the  world  of  men,  and  bring  help  to  the 

67 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

suffering,  bring  knowledge  to  the  darkened  minds.  They 
are  always  looking  out  into  the  world  to  find  one  soul 
that  is  willing  and  ready  to  be  helped;  always  looking 
over  the  world  in  order  that  They  may  at  once  come 
to  the  souls  that  are  ready  to  receive  Them,  and  will 
not  shut  the  doors  of  their  hearts  against  Them.  For 
our  hearts  are  closed  against  Them  and  fast-locked,  so 
that  They  cannot  enter.  They  may  not  break  down 
the  doors  and  come  in  by  force.  If  a  man  choose  his 
own  way  and  if  he  lock  the  doors,  none  other  may  turn 
the  key;  we  are  locked  up  by  worldly  desire;  we  are 
locked  up  by  grasping  after  the  things  of  the  earth; 
we  are  locked  up  with  the  keys  of  sin  and  indifference 
and  sloth;  and  the  Teacher  stands  waiting  till  the  do-^r 
be  opened  in  order  that  He  may  cross  the  threshold  and 
illuminate  the  mind. 

Do  you  say:  How  do  They  know  among  the  myriads 
of  men  one  soul  that  works  for  Them  and  makes  itself 
fit  for  Their  coming?  The  answer  was  once  given  in 
the  form  of  a  picture;  that  as  a  man  standing  on  a 
mountain- top  looking  over  the  adjacent  valley  sees  a 
light  in  a  single  cottage  because  the  light  shines  out 
against  the  surrounding  darkness,  so  does  the  soul  that 
has  made  itself  ready  show  the  light  in  the  darkness 
of  the  surrounding  world  which  catches  the  eye  of  the 
Watcher  on  the  mountain-side  and  draws  his  attention 
by  its  own  light.  You  must  light  the  soul,  in  order  that 
the  Teacher  may  see  it.  He  stands  watching,  but  you 
must  give  the  signal  in  order  that  He  may  become  your 
Teacher  and  guide  you  on  the  way.  How  great  the 
need  you  will  perhaps  understand  better  at  the  end  of 
the  remaining  work  that  lies  before  us,  as  I  trace  the 
work  of  the  disciple  and  what  may  really  be  done  by 
him:  but  let  me  leave  you  this  morning  with  this 
thought  in  your  minds:  that  the  Teacher  is  watching, 
is  waiting,  is  desiring  to  find  you,  desiring  to  teach 
you:  that  you  have  the  power  to  draw  Him  to  you, 
that  only  you  can  let  Him  come.     He  may  knock  at 

68 


INVISIBLE  HELPERS 

the  door  of  your  heart,  but  you  must  cry  out  the  word 
that  bids  Him  enter;  and  if  you  would  follow  the  path 
I  have  traced  for  you  this  morning,  if  step  by  step 
you  would  thus  learn  control  of  mind,  meditation, 
building  of  character,  there  you  would  have  spoken  the 
threefold  word  which  makes  it  possible  for  the  Teacher 
to  reveal  Himself.  When  that  word  is  breathed  out  in 
the  silence  of  the  soul  then  the  Master  appears  before  it, 
and  the  feet  of  the  Guru  are  found.* 

The  Disciple's  Activities  during  Sleep.  The  physical 
body  is  in  simple  truth  nothing  but  a  vehicle  or  vest- 
ure of  the  real  man.  It  is  put  off  permanently  at 
death,  but  it  is  also  put  off  temporarily  every  night 
when  we  go  to  sleep — indeed  the  process  of  falling 
asleep  consists  in  this  very  action  of  the  real  man  in 
his  astral  vehicle  slipping  out  of  the  physical  body. 

Now  the  man  who  has  not  yet  developed  the  link 
between  the  astral  and  physical  consciousness  is  unable 
to  leave  his  denser  body  at  will,  or  to  recollect  most 
of  what  happens  to  him  while  away  from  it;  but  the 
fact  nevertheless  remains  that  he  leaves  it  every  time 
he  sleeps,  and  may  be  seen  by  any  trained  clairvoyant 
either  hovering  over  it  or  wandering  about  at  a  greater 
or  less  distance  from  it,  as  the  case  may  be. 

But  the  disciple,  aspiring  to  be  of  service  in  waking 
life,  is  taken  in  hand  and  taught  how  to  be  active  and 
useful  in  his  astral  life  while  the  physical  body  is 
asleep  and  resting.  The  work  to  be  done  is  manifold, 
for  the  '"dead"  who  have  passed  beyond  the  grave  and 
are  dwelling  for  a  time  in  the  astral  world,  as  well  as 
for  the  living. 

The  main  work,  done  for  the  newly  dead  by  our 
helpers  is  that  of  soothing  and  comforting  them — of 
delivering  them  when  possible  from  the  terrible  though 
unreasoning  fear  which  but  too  often  seizes  them,  and 
not  only  causes  them  much  unnecessary  suffering,  but 

*Annie   Besant,  'The   Path   of   Discipleship." 
69 


A   PRIMER   OF  TEE080PEY 

retards  their  progress  to  higher  spheres— and  of  enab- 
ling them  as  far  as  may  be  to  comprehend  the  future 
that  lies  before  them. 

Others  who  have  been  longer  on  the  astral  plane  may 
also  receive  much  help,  if  they  will  but  accept  it,  from 
explanations  and  advice  as  to  their  course  through  its 
different  stages.  They  may,  for  example,  be  warned  of  the 
danger  and  delay  caused  by  attempting  to  communicate 
with  the  living  through  a  medium,  and  sometimes 
(though  rarely)  an  entity  already  drawn  into  spiritual- 
istic circle  may  be  guided  into  higher  and  healthier  life. 

The  assistance  given  to  the  living  is  exceedingly 
varied  in  character.  The  consolation  of  those  who  are 
suffering  or  in  sorrow  at  once  suggests  itself,  as  does 
also  the  endeavour  to  guide  towards  the  truth  those 
who  are  earnestly  seeking  it.  When  a  person  is  spend- 
ing much  anxious  thought  upon  some  spiritual  or 
metaphysical  problem,  it  is  often  possible  to  put  the 
solution  into  his  mind  without  his  being  at  all  aware 
that  it  comes  from  external  agency. 

A  pupil  too,  may  often  be  employed  as  an  agent  in 
what  can  hardly  be  described  otherwise  than  as  the 
answering  of  prayer;  for  though  it  is  true  that  any 
earnest  spiritual  desire,  such  as  might  be  supposed  to 
find  its  expression  in  prayer,  is  itself  a  force  which 
automatically  brings  about  certain  results,  it  is  also 
a  fact  that  such  a  spiritual  effort  offers  an  opportunity 
of  influence  to  the  Powers  of  Good,  of  which  they  are 
not  slow  to  take  advantage;  and  it  is  sometimes  the 
privilege  of  a  willing  helper  to  be  made  the  channel 
through  which  their  energy  is  poured  forth.  W[\^t  is 
said  of  prayer  is  true  to  an  even  greater  extent  of  medi- 
tation, for  those  to  whom  this  higher  exercise  is  a  possi- 
bility. 

Besides  these  more  general  methods  of  help  there 
are  also  special  lines  open  only  to  the  few.  Again  and 
again  such  pupils  as  are  fitted  for  the  work  have  been 
employed    to   suggest    true    and    beautiful    thoughts    to 

70 


MEDITATION 

authors,  poets,  artists  and  musicians;  but  obviously 
it  is  not  every  helper  who  is  capable  of  being  used  in 
this  way. 

Sometimes,  though  more  rarely,  it  is  possible  to 
warn  persons  of  the  danger  to  their  moral  development 
of  some  course  which  they  are  pursuing,  to  clear  away 
evil  influences  from  about  some  person  or  place,  or  to 
counteract  the  machinations  of  black  magicians.  It 
is  not  often  that  direct  instruction  in  the  great  truths 
of  nature  can  be  given  to  people  outside  the  circle  of 
occult  students,  but  occasionally  it  is  possible  to  do 
something  in  that  way  by  putting  before  the  minds  of 
preachers  and  teachers  a  wider  range  of  thought  or  a 
more  liberal  view  of  some  question  than  they  would 
otherwise  have  taken. 

Naturally  as  an  occult  student  progresses  on  the 
Path  he  attains  a  wider  sphere  of  usefulness.  Instead 
of  assisting  individuals  only,  he  learns  how  classes, 
nations  and  races  are  dealt  with,  and  he  is  entrusted 
with  a  gradually  increasing  share  of  the  higher  and 
more  important  work  done  by  the  adepts  themselves.* 

Concentration.  There  is  a  story  told  in  the  East 
about  some  sceptical  courtiers,  who  declined  to  believe 
that  an  ascetic  could  ever  be  so  occupied  with  his  medita- 
tion as  to  be  unaware  that  an  army  passed  close  by 
him  as  he  sat  under  his  tree  wrapt  in  thought.  The 
king,  who  was  present,  assured  them  that  he  would 
prove  to  them  the  possibility  of  this,  and  proceeded  to 
do  so  in  a  truly  Oriental  and  autocratic  way.  He  or- 
dered that  some  large  water-jars  should  be  brought  and 
filled  to  the  brim.  Then  he  instructed  the  courtiers 
each  to  take  one  and  carry  it;  and  his  command  was 
that  they  should  walk,  carrying  this  water,  through  the 
principal  streets  of  the  city.  But  th^y  were  to  be 
surrounded  by  his  guards  with  drawn  swords  and  if  one 
of  them  spilled  one  single  drop  of  his  water,  that  un- 

*C.  W.  L.,  "Invisible  Helpers." 
71 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

fortunate  was  to  be  instantly  beheaded  then  and  there. 
The  courtiers  started  on  their  journey  filled  with  ter- 
ror; but  they  all  got  safely  back  again,  and  the  king 
smilingly  greeted  them  with  a  request  to  tell  him  all 
the  incidents  of  their  walk,  and  describe  the  persons 
whom  they  had  met.  Not  one  of  them  could  mention 
even  one  person  that  they  had  seen,  for  all  agreed  that 
they  had  been  so  entirely  occupied  with  the  one  idea  of 
watching  the  brimming  jars  that  they  had  noticed 
nothing  else  of  any  sort.  *'So  gentlemen,"  rejoined  the 
king,  "you  see  that  when  there  is  sufficient  interest 
concentration  is  possible." 

Meditation.  When  you  have  attained  concentration 
such  as  that,  not  under  the  stress  of  the  fear  of  in- 
stant death,  but  by  the  exertion  of  your  will,  then  you 
may  profitably  try  the  next  stage  of  effort.  I  do  not 
say  that  it  will  be  easy;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  very 
difficult;  but  it  can  be  done,  for  many  of  us  have  had 
to  do  it.  Wlien  your  mind  is  thus  an  instrument,  try 
what  we  call  meditation.  Choose  a  certain  fixed  time 
for  yourself,  when  you  can  be  undisturbed;  the  early 
mo'rning  is  in  many  ways  the  best,  if  that  can  be  man- 
aged. It  is  not  always  an  easy  time  for  us  now,  for 
we  have  in  modern  civilization  hopelessly  disarranged 
our  day,  so  that  noon  is  no  longer  its  middle  point,  as 
it  should  be.  Now  we  lie  in  bed  long  after  the  sun  has 
risen,  and  then  stay  up  injuring  our  eyes  with  artificial 
light  long  after  he  has  set  at  night.  But  choose  your 
time,  and  let  it  be  the  same  time  each  day,  and  let  no 
day  pass  without  your  regular  effort.  We  know  that 
if  we  are  trying  any  sort  of  physical  exercise  for  train- 
ing purposes  how  much  more  effective  it  is  to  do  a  lit- 
tle regularly  than  to  make  a  violent  effort  one  day,  and 
then  to  do  nothing  for  a  week.  So  in  this  matter  it  is 
the  regularity  that  is  important. 

Sit  down  comfortably  where  you  will  not  be  dis- 
turbed, and  turn  your  mind,  with  all  its  newly-de- 
veloped power  of  concentration,  upon  some  selected  sub- 

72 


SOUL    DEVELOPMENT 

ject  demanding  high  and  useful  thought.  We  in  our 
Theosophical  studies  have  no  lack  of  such  subjects, 
combining  deepest  interest  with  greatest  profit.  If  you 
prefer  it,  you  can  take  some  moral  quality,  as  is  ad- 
vised by  the  Catholic  Church  when  it  prescribes  this 
exercise.  In  that  ease,  you  would  turn  the  quality  over 
in  your  mind,  see  how  it  was  an  essential  quality  in 
the  Divine  order,  how  it  was  manifested  in  Nature  about 
you,  how  it  had  been  shown  forth  by  great  men  of  old, 
how  you  yourself  could  manifest  it  in  your  daily  life, 
how  (perhaps)  you  have  failed  to  display  it  in  the  past 
and  so  on.  Such  meditation  upon  a  high  moral  quality 
is  a  vety  good  exercise  in  many  ways,  for  it  not  only 
trains  the  mind,  but  keeps  the  good  thought  constantly 
before  you.  But  it  needs  to  be  preceded  generally  by 
thought  upon  concrete  subjects,  and  when  those  are 
easy  for  you,  you  can  usefully  take  up  the  more  ab- 
stract ideas. 

Contemplation.  When  this  has  become  an  estab- 
lished habit  with  you,  with  which  nothing  is  allowed  to 
interfere;  when  you  can  manage  it  fairly  well  without 
any  feeling  of  strain  or  difficulty,  and  without  a  single 
wandering  thought  ever  venturing  to  intrude  itself, 
then  you  may  turn  to  the  third  stage  of  our  effort — 
contemplation.  -  But  remember  that  you  will  not  suc- 
ceed with  this  until  you  have  entirely  conquered  the 
mind-wandering.  For  a  long  time  you  will  find,  when 
you  try  to  meditate,  that  your  thoughts  are  con- 
tinually going  off  at  a  tangent,  and  you  do  not  know  it 
till  suddenly  you  start  to  find  out  how  far  away  you 
have  gone.  You  must  not  let  this  dishearten  you,  for 
it  is  the  common  experience;  you  must  simply  bring  the 
errant  mind  back  again  to  its  duty,  a  hundred  or  a 
thousand  times  if  necessary,  for  the  only  way  to 
succeed  is  to  decline  to  admit  of  the  possibility  of 
failure.  But  when  you  have  at  length  succeeded,  and 
the  mind  is  definitely  mastered,  then  we  reach  that  for 
which  all  the  rest  has  been  but  the  necessary  prepara- 

73 


A    PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

tion,  good  though  it  has  been  in  itself. 

Instead  of  turning  over  a  quality  in  your  mind,  take 
the  highest  spiritual  ideal  you  know.  It  does  not 
matter  what  it  is,  or  by  what  name  you  call  it.  A 
Theosophist  would  most  probably  take  one  of  those 
Great  Ones  to  whom  we  have  already  referred — a  mem- 
ber of  that  great  Brotherhood  of  Adepts,  whom  we  call 
the  Masters — especially  if  he  had  the  privilege  of  hav- 
ing come  directly  into  contact  with  one  of  them.  The 
Catholic  might  take  the  Blessed  Virgin  or  some  patron 
Saint,  the  ordinary  Christian  would  probably  take  the 
Christ;  the  Hindu  would  perhaps  choose  Krishna,  and 
the  Buddhist  most  likely  the  Lord  Buddha  himself. 
Names  do  not  matter,  for  we  are  dealing  with  realities 
now,  but  it  must  be  to  you  the  highest,  that  which  will 
evoke  in  you  the  greatest  feeling  of  reverence,  love  and 
devotion  that  you  are  capable  of  experiencing.  In 
place  of  your  previous  meditation  call  up  the  most 
vivid  mental  image  that  you  can  make  of  this  ideal, 
and  letting  your  most  intense  feelings  go  out  towards 
this  highest  One,  try  with  all  the  strength  of  your 
nature  to  raise  yourself  towards  Him,  to  become  one 
with  Him  to  be  in  and  of  that  glory  and  beauty.  If 
you  will  do  that,  if  you  will  thus  steadily  continue 
to  raise  your  consciousness,  there  will  come  a  time 
■when  you  will  suddenly  find  that  you  are  one  with  that 
ideal  as  you  never  were  before,  when  you  realize  and 
understand  Him  as  you  never  did  before,  for  a  new  and 
wonderful  light  has  somehow  dawned  for  you,  and  all 
the  world  has  changed,  for  now  for  the  first  time  you 
know  what  it  is  to  live,  and  all  life  before  seems  like 
darkness  and  death  to  you  as  compared  with  this. 

Then  it  will  all  slip  away  again,  and  you  will  return 
to  the  light  of  common  day— and  darkness  indeed  it 
will  appear  by  comparison.  But  go  on  working  at  your 
contemplation,  and  presently  that  glorious  moment  will 
come  again  and  yet  again;  and  each  time  it  will  stay 
with  you  longer,  till  there  comes  a  period  when  that 

74 


CONSCIOUSNESS    ON    HIGHER    PLANES 

higher  life  is  yours  always,  no  longer  a  flash  or  a 
glimpse  of  paradise,  but  a  steady  glow,  a  new  and 
never-ceasing  marvel  every  day  of  your  existence.  Then 
for  you  day  and  night  will  be  one  continuous  conscious- 
ness, one  beautiful  life  of  happy  work  for  the  helping 
of  others;  yet,  this,  which  seems  so  indescribable  and 
so  unsurpassable,  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  entrance 
into  the  heritage  in  store  for  you  and  for  every  child 
of  man.  Look  about  you  with  that  new  and  higher 
sight,  and  you  will  see  and  grasp  many  things  which 
until  now  you  have  never  even  suspected — unless,  in- 
deed, you  have  previously  familiarized  yourself  with  the 
investigations  of  your  predecessors  along  this  path. 

Continue  your  eflforts,  and  you  will  rise  higher  still, 
and  in  due  course  there  will  open  before  your  astonished 
eyes  a  life  as  much  grander  than  the  astral  as  that  is 
than  the  physical,  and  once  more  you  will  feel  that 
the  true  life  has  been  unknown  to  you  until  now;  for 
all  the  while  you  are  rising  nearer  to  the  One  Life 
which  alone  is  perfect  Truth  and  perfect  Beauty. 

This  is  a  development  that  must  take  years,  you  will 
say.  Yes,  that  is  probable,  for  you  are  trying  to  com- 
press into  one  life  the  evolution  which  would  normally 
spread  itself  over  many;  but  is  far  more  than  worth 
the  time  and  the  effort.  No  man  can  say  how  long  it 
will  take  in  any  individual  case,  for  that  depends  upon 
two  things — the  amount  of  crust  that  there  is  to  break 
through,  and  the  energy  and  determination  that  is  put 
into  the  work.  I  could  not  promise  you  that  in  so  many 
years  you  would  certainly  succeed;  I  can  only  tell  you 
that  many  have  tried  before  you,  and  that  many  have 
succeeded.  All  the  Great  Masters  of  Wisdom  were  once 
men  at  our  own  level;  as  they  have  risen,  so  must  we 
rise.  Many  of  us  in  our  humbler  way  have  tried  also, 
and  have  succeeded,  some  more  and  some  less;  but  none 
who  has  tried  regrets  his  attempt,  for  whatever  he  has 
gained,  be  it  little  or  much,  is  gained  for  all  eternity, 
since  it  inheres  in  the  soul  which  survives  death.    What- 

75 


A   PRIMER  OF   THEOSOPHY 

ever  we  gain  thus  we  possess  in  full  power  and  con- 
sciousness, and  have  it  always  at  our  command;  for 
this  is  no  mediumship,  no  feeble  intermittent  trance- 
quality,  but  the  power  of  the  developed  and  glorified 
life  which  is  to  be  that  of  all  humanity  some  day. 

But  the  man  who  wishes  to  try  to  unfold  these 
faculties  within  himself  will  be  very  ill-advised  if  he 
does  not  take  care  first  of  all  to  have  utter  purity  of 
heart  and  soul,  for  that  is  the  first  and  greatest  neces- 
sity. If  he  is  to  do  this,  and  do  it  well,  he  must 
purify  the  mental,  the  astral  and  the  physical;  he  must 
cast  aside  his  pet  vices  and  his  physical  impurities;  he 
must  cease  to  defile  his  body  with  meat,  with  alcohol 
or  tobacco,  and  try  to  make  himself  pure  and  clean  all 
through,  on  this  lower  plane  as  well  as  on  the  higher 
ones.  If  he  does  not  think  it  worth  while  to  give  up 
petty  uncleannesses  for  the  higher  life,  that  is  exclusive- 
ly his  own  affair;  it  was  said  of  old  that  one  could  not 
serve  God  and  Mammon  simultaneously.  I  do  not  say 
that  bad  habits  on  the  physical  plane  will  prevent  him 
altogether  from  any  psychic  development,  but  I  do 
very  emphatically  and  distinctly  say  that  the  man  who 
remains  unclean  is  never  free  from  danger,  and  that  to 
touch  holy  things  with  impure  hands  is  to  risk  a 
terrible  peril. 

The  man  who  would  try  for  the  higher  must  free  his 
mind  from  worry  and  from  lower  cares;  while  doing 
his  duty  to  the  uttermost  he  must  do  it  impersonally 
and  for  the  right's  sake,  and  leave  the  result  in  the 
hands  of  higher  powers.  So  will  he  draw  round  him 
pure  and  helpful  entities  as  he  moves  onward,  and  will 
himself  radiate  sunlight  on  those  in  suffering  or  in 
sorrow.  So  shall  he  remain  master  of  himself,  pure  and 
clean  and  unselfish,  using  his  new  powers  never  for  a 
personal  end,  but  ever  for  the  advancement  and  the 
succour  of  men  his  brothers,  that  they  also,  as  they 
can,  may  learn  to  live  the  wider  life,  may  learn  to  rise 
from  amid  the  mists  of  ignorance  and  selfishness  into 

76 


UNIVERSAL  BROTHERHOOD. 

the  glorious  sunlight  of  the  peace  of  God. 

Take  up  this  study  of  Theosophy,  then,  not  on  blind 
faith,  for  blind  faith  has  done  enough  harm  in  the 
world  already — but  for  enquiry;  if  you  are  not  satisfied, 
there  is  iio  harm  done,  while  if  you  are  satisfied,  much 
good  may  come  to  you  thereby,  as  it  has  come  to  the 
rest  of  us.  The  best  way  of  all  to  see  whether  this 
thing  is  so,  is  to  act  as  if  it  were  true;  live  the  life 
which  it  teaches,  and  note  its  effects.  Try  the  thought- 
control  which  it  recommends,  and  see  whether  you  are 
the  better  or  the  worse  for  it.  Try  to  realize  the  unity 
and  brotherhood  w^hich  it  teaches,  and  to  show  the  un- 
selfishness w^hich  it  exacts;  and  then  see  for  yourself 
whether  this  is  an  improvement  upon  other  modes  of 
living  or  not.  It  still  remains  true  now,  as  in  days  of 
old,  that  they  that  do  the  will  of  the  Father  that  is  in 
heaven,  they  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be 
true.  The  surest  way  to  find  the  truth,  is  to  live  the 
life;  try  the  unselfishness  and  the  watchful  helpfulness, 
and  see  whether  here  is  not  an  opening  into  new  fields 
of  happiness  and  usefulness.  From  that  go  on  gradually 
to  other  parts  of  the  teaching  and  you  will  find  evi- 
dence enough.  Think  what  the  world  w^ould  be  if  all, 
held  these  doctrines  of  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man;  w^ould  it  be  better,  or  would  it  be 
worse,  if  all  mankind  held  unity  as  a  fact,  and  unself- 
ishness as  a  duty?  As  yet  we  are  only  at  the  beginning 
of  the  mightiest  of  studies;  yet  w^e  say  to  you  with 
utmost  confidence,  come  and  join  us  in  our  study,  and 
to  you  also  will  come  the  peace  and  confidence  that  has 
come  to  us,  so  that  through  your  study  of  Theosophy 
your  lives  shall  become  happier  to  yourselves  and  more 
useful  to  your  fellow-men.* 

Self -Sacrifice  and  Renunciation.  "We  talk  of  the  Great 
Renunciation,  w^e  speak  of  Those,  before  whose  feet  we 
bow,  as  Those  who  have  "made  the  Great  Renunciation." 

*C.  W.  Leadbeater,  "The  Other  Side  of  Death," 
77 


A   PRIMER   OF  THE080PHY 

Do  not  dream  that  They  made  Their  renunciation,  when, 
standing  on  the  threshold  of  Nirvana,  They  heard  the 
sobbing  of  the  world  in  anguish,  and  turned  back  to 
help.  It  was  not  then  that  the  real,  the  great,  renuncia- 
tion was  made.  They  made  it  over  and  over  again  in 
the  hundreds  of  lives  that  lie  behind  Them;  They  made 
it  by  the  constant  practice  of  the  small  renunciations 
of  life,  by  continual  pity,  by  daily  sacrifices  in  common 
human  life.  They  did  not  make  it  at  the  last  hour, 
when  on  the  threshold  of  Nirvana,  but  through  the 
course  of  lives  of  sacrifice;  until,  at  last,  the  Law  of 
Sacrifice  became  so  much  the  law  of  Their  being,  that 
They  could  not  do  anything  at  the  last  moment,  when 
the  choice  was  Theirs,  save  register  on  the  record  of 
the  universe  the  innumerable  renunciations  of  the  past. 

"You  and  I,  my  brothers,  today,  if  we  will,  may  begin 
to  make  the  Great  Renunciation,  and  if  we  do  not  begin 
it  in  the  daily  life,  in  our  hourly  dealings  with  our 
fellows,  be  assured  we  should  not  be  able  to  make  it 
when  we  stand  on  the  mountain  crest.  The  habit  of 
daily  sacrifice,  the  habit  of  thinking,  the  habit  of 
always  giving  and  not  taking,  only  thus  shall  we  learn 
to  make  that  which  the  outer  world  calls  the  Great 
Renunciation.  We  dream  of  great  deeds  of  heroism, 
we  dream  of  mighty  ordeals,  we  think  that  the  life  of 
discipleship  consists  in  tremendous  trials  for  which  the 
disciple  prepares  himself,  towards  which  he  marches 
with  open  vision,  and  then  by  one  supreme  effort,  by 
one  brave  struggle,  gains  his  crown  of  victory. 

"Brothers,  it  is  not  so.  The  life  of  the  disciple  is  one 
long  series  of  petty  renunciations,  one  long  series  of 
daily  sacrifices,  one  continual  dying  in  time  in  order 
that  the  higher  may  eternally  live.  It  is  not  a  single 
deed  that  strikes  the  world  with  wonder  which  makes 
true  discipleship,  else  were  the  hero  or  the  martyr 
greater  than  the  disciple.  The  life  of  the  disciple  is 
lived  in  the  home,  is  lived  in  the  town,  is  lived  in  the 
office,    is    lived    in    the    market    place,    yea,    amid    the 

78 


OCCULTISM 

common  lives  of  men.  The  true  life  of  sacrifice  is  that 
which  utterly  forgets  itself,  in  which  renunciation  be- 
comes so  common  that  there  is  no  effort,  that  it 
becomes  a  thing  of  course.  If  we  lead  that  life  of 
sacrifice,  if  w^e  lead  that  life  of  renunciation,  if  daily, 
perse veringly,  we  pour  out  ourselves  for  others,  we 
shall  find  ourselves  one  day  on  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  shall  discover  that  we  have  made  the  Great 
Renunciation,  without  ever  dreaming  that  any  other 
act  were  possible." — A.  B. 

The  Theosophist  and  the  Occultist.  It  will  be  seen 
from  the  foregoing  that  the  ideal  a  Theosophist  keeps 
before  him  is  the  highest  imaginable.  He  identifies 
himself  with  all  the  thoughts,  feelings  and  actions  of 
others  that  tend  to  union,  and  lives  actively  sympa- 
thizing with  all  that  is  best  in  every  department  of 
life.  He  recognizes  the  Brotherhood  of  Man  because 
there  is  a  common  Father  of  all  men. 

The  Occultist  is  one  who,  trying  to  live  up  to  this 
ideal  in  every  detail,  emphasizes  its  more  important 
aspects.  He  sees  all  life  not  from  the  standpoint  of 
personality,  but  from  the  standpoint  of  the  ego,  who  is 
free  from  conventional  ways  of  thought  and  judgment 
that  mark  a  given  nation  or  period  of  time.  He  sees 
conventions  are  useful  up  to  a  certain  point  and  often 
true,  but  he  knows  that  they  are  true  only  partially, 
because  they  are  based  on  a  partial  understanding  of 
nature.  The  unseen  facts  of  the  invisible  worlds  are 
always  the  larger  part  in  any  event,  and  the  w^orld's 
conventions  take  no  account  of  the  hidden  side  of 
things;  the  ego  knows  that  the  occult  aspect  modifies 
considerably  the  hasty  judgment  given  by  conventions. 

The  Occultist  trains  himself  to  use  the  true  standard 
of  values,  not  those  of  a  nation  or  creed  or  period,  but 
those  which  are  of  all  time  and  universal.  This  new 
valuation  is  the  most  correct  as  being  truest  to  fact 
and  to  all  the  facts.  He  uses  this  standard  only  as  he 
feels  himself  as  ego  and  not  as  personality. 


A   PRIMER   OF   THE080PHY 

The  Occultist  further  definitely  trains  himself  to  be- 
come one  of  the  conscious  accepted  agents  of  the  Great 
Adept  Hierarchy.  He  works  definitely  under  one  of 
the  Adepts  carrying  out  the  work  given  him  to  do,  and 
his  r-^---  '■•  -.„„!-, I;  is  devoted  to  the  welfare  of  the  work. 
It  matters  little  to  him  whether  he  himself  is  happy 
or  unhappy;  is  furthering  his  evolution  or  not;  only 
one  thing  is  of  vital  import,  that  the  work  shall  be 
done  at  the  right  time  and  in  the  best  way,  not  who 
shall  do  it  nor  what  benefits  come  to  the  doer.  All 
can  be  Theosophists,  but  for  the  life  of  occultism, 
"Many  are  called   but  few   are   chosen."  C.  J. 

The  Masters  of  Wisdom.  "What,  then,  it  may  be 
asked,  are  the  desirable  methods,  since  so  many  are  un- 
desirable? Broadly,  those  which,  instead  of  suppressing 
the  physical  body  by  force,  train  the  soul  to  control  it. 
The  surest  and  safest  way  of  all  is  to  put  oneself  into 
the  hands  of  a  competent  teacher  and  practice  only 
what  he  advises.  But  where  is  the  qualified  teacher 
to  be  found?  Not,  assuredly,  among  any  who  adver- 
tise themselves  as  teachers;  not  among  those  who  take 
money  for  their  instruction,  and  offer  to  sell  the  mys- 
teries of  the  universe  for  so  many  shillings  or  so  many 
dollars.  Knowledge  can  be  gained  now  where  it  has 
always  been  available — at  the  hands  of  those  who  are 
adepts  in  this  great  science  of  the  soul,  the  fringe  of 
which  we  are  beginning  to  touch  in  our  deepest  studies. 

"There  has  always  been  a  great  Brotherhood  of  the 
men  who  know,  and  they  have  always  been  ready  to 
teach  their  lore  to  the  right  man,  for  it  is  for  that  very 
purpose  that  they  have  taken  the  trouble  to  acquire  it, 
in  order  that  they  may  be  able  to  guide  and  help.  How 
can  we  reach  them?  We  cannot  reach  them  in  the 
physical  body,  and  we  might  not  even  know  them  if  it 
should  happen  to  us  to  see  them.  But  they  can  reach 
us,  and  assuredly  they  will  reach  us  when  they  see  us 
to  be  fit  for  the  work  of  helping  the  world.  Their  one 
great  interest  is  the  furthering  of  evolution,  the  helping 

80 


TnE  SAVIORS   OF   MANKIND 

of  humanity;  they  need  men  devoted  to  this  work,  and 
they  are  ever  watching  for  them;  so  none  need  fear 
that  he  can  be  overlooked  if  he  is  ready  for  that  work. 
They  will  never  gratify  mere  curiosity.  They  will  give 
no  aid  to  the  man  who  wishes  to  gain  power  for  him- 
self alone;  but  when  a  man  has  shown  by  long  and 
careful  training  of  himself,  and  by  using  for  helpfulness 
all  the  power  which  he  already  possesses,  that  his  will 
is  strong  enough  and  his  heart  pure  enough  to  bear  his 
part  in  the  Divine  work— then  he  may  become  con- 
scious of  their  presence  and  their  aid  when  he  least 
expects  it. 

"It  is  true  that  they  founded  the  Theosophical  Society, 
yet  membership  in  the  Society  will  not  of  itself  be 
sufficient  to  bring  a  man  into  relationship  with  them— 
no;  nor  even  membership  in  that  Inner  School  through 
which  the  Society  offers  training  to  its  more  earnest 
members.  It  is  true  that  from  the  ranks  of  the  Society 
men  have  been  chosen  to  come  into  closer  relation  with 
them;  but  none  could  guarantee  that  as  a  result  of 
becoming  a  member,,  for  it  rests  with  them  alone,  for 
they  see  further  into  the  hearts  of  men  than  we.  But 
always  be  sure  of  this,  you  whose  hearts  are  yearning 
for  the  higher  life,  for  something  greater  than  this 
lower  life  can  give,  they  never  overlook  one  honest 
effort,  but  always  recognize  it  by  giving  through  their 
pupils  such  teaching  and  such  help  as  is  best  for  the 
man  at  his  stage.*" 

The  Masters  of  Wisdom,  who  are  members  of  the 
Hierarchy  that  governs  the  world,  call  themselves  the 
Elder  Brothers  of  humanity.  Among  their  ranks  still 
move  and  work  the  gi-eat  saviors  of  mankind  like  Gau- 
tama Buddha,  Christ  and  Krishna;  Pythagoras,  Kleinias, 
Apollonius  of  Tyana,  lamblichus,  still  inspire  the  philo- 
sophic   schools.      Shankaracharya    and    Bamanujacharya 

*C.  W.  L.,  "The  Other  Side  of  Death." 
81 


A   PRIMER   OF   THE080PEY 

of  India  and  others  are  among  them;  and  Christian 
Rosenkreuz,  the  founder  of  Rosicrucianism,  one  of  these 
elder  brothers,  has  for  centuries  stood  behind  all 
Masonic  and  other  fraternal  organizations,  inspiring 
them  and  guiding  them  to  do  for  men  what  Christian 
churches  cannot  do.  Among  the  Adept  ranks  still  live, 
guiding  their  followers,  Zoroaster  and  Mohammed. 

These  adepts  are  known  in  the  East  as  Mahatmas  or 
Great  Souls,  Rishis,  and  Arhats.  In  western  lands,  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  tradition  knew  something  of  them  as 
the  Knights  of  the  Koly  Grail;  even  in  the  Christian 
ritual  a  faint  recollection  of  them  still  exists  under  the 
term  "The  Communion  of  Saints."  Many  of  these 
great  ones  have  had  many  reincarnations  since  they 
were  known  to  history  under  these  names.       C.  J. 

The  Celestial  Hierarchy  of  the  World.  "Every  Adept 
— every  pupil  even,  when  once  definitely  accepted — 
takes  part  in  the  great  work  of  helping  forward  the 
evolution  of  man;  but  those  standing  on  the  higher 
levels  take  charge  of  special  de.partments,  and  cor- 
respond in  the  cosmic  scheme  to  the  ministers  of  the 
crown  in  a  well-ordered  earthly  state."  One  such  de- 
partment, the  present  head  of  which  is  the  Christ 
(known  to  esoteric  Hindu  tradition  as  Jagat  Guru,  the 
Teacher  of  the  World,  and  to  esoteric  Buddhist  tradi- 
tion as  Bodhisattva,  the  future  Buddha),  directs  the 
religious  instruction  of  humanity.  "The  Great  One  in 
charge  of  this  department  sometimes  himself  appears  on 
earth  to  found  a  great  religion,  and  sometimes  entrusts 
such  work  to  one  of  his  more  advanced  assistants.  We 
must  regard  Him  as  exercising  a  kind  of  steady  pressure 
from  behind  all  the  time,  so  that  the  force  employed 
will  flow  as  though  automatically  into  every  channel 
anywhere  and  of  any  sort  which  is  open  for  its  pas- 
sage; so  that  He  is  working  simultaneously  through 
every  religion,  and  utilizing  all  that  is  good  in  the  way 
of  devotion  and  self-sacrifice   in  each.     The   fact  that 

82 


TEE  CELESTIAL  EIERARCHY 

these  religions  may  be  wasting  strength  in  abusing 
one  another  upon  the  physical  plane  is  of  course  regret- 
table, but  it  does  not  make  much  difference  to  the  fact 
that  whatever  is  good  in  each  of  them  is  being  simul- 
taneously utilized  from  behind  by  the  same  great 
power.  The  same  is  true  of  course  of  all  movements 
in  the  world — every  ounce  of  the  good  in  them  is  being 
utilized  as  a  channel,  while  the  evil  in  them  is  in  each 
case  just  so  mucn  "regrettable  waste  of  force  which 
might  have  been  utilized  if  the  people  had  been  more 
sensible."  A  second  department  deals  with  humanity 
as  grouped  into  nations,  and  guides  their  rise  and  fall, 
directing  each  from  the  unseen  to  do  its  work  in  the 
world,  so  that  the  progresses  of  the  whole  may  be 
quickened.  Nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  have  their 
karma,  and  the  adepts  in  charge  of  them  are  continu- 
ally adjusting  their  karmas  to  bring  out  of  chaos  and 
selfishness  the  utmost  good  possible. 

Other  departments  guide  the  evolution  of  the  vege- 
table and  animal  kingdoms,  directing  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  forms,  bringing  about  variations  and  new  types 
in  accordance  with  plans  before  them  by  utilizing  the 
struggle  for  existence  on  the  physical  plane.  Yet  other 
departments  direct  the  progress  of  the  world  by  guid- 
ing discoveries  in  science  and  archaeology,  step  by  step, 
with  infinite  tenderness  coaxing  souls  to  step  out  into 
the  light.  So  it  is  with  the  world  of  art;  all  unseen, 
except  to  the  occultist,  there  is  the  steady  pressure 
from  behind,  directing  the  strivings  of  artists  to  realize 
the  ideal.  ♦> 

In  the  millions  of  years  required  to  train  human  souls, 
in  successive  cycles,  humanity  inhabits  different  planets 
within  the  Solar  System.  Humanity  for  ages  now  has 
occupied  the  earth.  There  exist  humanities  on  all  the 
planets  of  the  system,  some  in  physical  bodies,  where 
the  globe's  condition  permits  physical  life,  others  in 
astral  forms.  While  a  humanity  occupies  a  globe  there 
appear   on  it   successively   seven   great   types   of  races. 

83 


A   PRIMER   OF  THEOSOPHY 

So  far  on  earth  five  such  "root-races"  have  appeared. 
The  descendants  of  the  two  earliest  liave  died  out.  The 
third  race,  the  Lemurian,  is  represented  by<  the  blaci-: 
wooly-haired  races  of  the  world.  The  fourth  root-race 
had  its  habitat  on  the  sunken  continent  of  Atlantis. 
This  Atlantean  race  is  represented  now  on  earth  by  the 
Mongolian  peoples  of  China  and  Japan,  and  the  Red 
Indians  of  America.  The  fifth  root-race  is  the  Aryan 
or  Caucasian,  having  within  it  Aryan  Hindus,  Ancient 
Egyptians,  Persians,  Greeks,  Romans,  Celts  and  Teutons. 
Its  sixth  sub-race  is  being  formed  in  North  America. 

Each  root-race  has  seven  sub-races,  appearing  one 
after  another.  Each  root-race  has  its  Manu  or  Law- 
giver, and  its  Buddha  or  Spiritual  Director.  The  work 
of  all  the  departments  is  under  the  supervision  of  a 
Chief,  within  whose  immediate  and  direct  consciousness 
everything  within  this  globe  takes  place.  Each  globe 
has  its  Chief,  who  is  as  it  were  its  life  and  heart.  All 
the  chiefs  within  the  Solar  System  are  the  ministers 
of  the  Solar  Logos,  whose  powers  and  attributes  are 
such  that  He  is  to  us  very  God  of  very  God,  since 
at  every  point  of  space  within  His  system  He  exists  in 
His  fullest  consciousness.  In  Him  we  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being,  for  we  are  His  offspring. 

Every  starry  system  in  the  heavens  has  its  Logos, 
the  Father  of  that  system  and  of  all  that  has  life  and 
consciousness  therein.  Embracing  all  conceivable  uni- 
verses, at  every  point  in  His  full  perfection,  is  the 
Cosmic  Logos.  "Him,  nor  from  above,  nor  from  below, 
nor  midmost,  can  one  grasp;  no  equal  to  be  found  is 
there  of  Him,  whose  name  is  Glory  Great." 

Yet  this  much  we  know,  and  every  year  fuller  and 
fuller;  that  from  us  at  our  lowly  levels,  linking  us  to 
the  Godhead,  there  is  a  hierarchy  of  Elder  Brothers — 
Angels  and  Adepts,  Masters  of  the  Wisdom,  Captains 
of  our  Salvation,  Logoi  innumerable;  that  in  spite  of 
the  seeming  jarring  and  discord  and  suffering,  there  is 
an  irresistable   guidance;    that   there  is  not  a  sparrow 

84 


WHAT  TEEO SOPHY  DOES  FOR   US 

that  falls  on  the  ground  but  They  know;  that  They  are 
stretching  Their  hands  to  us,  once  again  as  of  old,  now 
through  Theosophy,  to  help  us  to  climb  to  where  life 
is  in  its  truest  and  fullest,  to  teach  us  what  They 
know — That  God  is  all  and  in  all.      C.  J. 

WHAT  THEOSOPHY  DOES  FOR  US. 

There  are  certain  great  basic  facts  of  life  about  which 
every  thinking  man  desires  accurate  information — such 
facts  as  the  existence  and  nature  of  God  and  His  relation 
to  man;  we  desire  to  know  whence  we  came  and  whitlTder 
we  are  going  anrl  what  is  the  object  of  our  existence. 
There  are  in  the  world  many  forms  of  religion,  and  each  of 
these  forms  has  propounded  its  own  theories  with  regard 
to  these  matters,  but  these  theories  have  differed  wide- 
ly, and  each  has  bitterly  assailed  and  ridiculed  the  be- 
liefs of  the  others,  so  that  the  majority  of  men  have 
come  to  think  that  upon  all  these  points  there  is  no 
certain  information  available. 

So  it  comes  to  them  as  a  surprise  to  find  that  there 
is  a  coherent  and  reasonable  theory  of  the  universe — a 
plain  declaration  of  the  great  facts  of  Nature,  so  far 
as  they  are  known — a  statement  which  is  not  to  be 
accepted  as  a  creed,  but  to  be  studied  and  investigated. 
Theosophy  is  such  a  statement — a  definite  science,  the 
result  of  very  many  centuries  of  research  and  experi- 
ment, yet  verified  in  our  day  by  many  of  its  students, 
and  verifiable  by  anyone  who  is  willing  to  take  the 
trouble  to  qualify  himself  for  such  enquiry. 

Theosophy  is  not  a  religion,  but  it  bears  to  the  re- 
ligions the  same  relation  as  did  the  ancient  philoso- 
phies ;  it  does  not  contradict  any  of  them,  but  it  explains 
and  harmonizes  them  all.  It  teaches  that  truth  on  all  those 
important  points  of  which  we  have  spoken  is  attainable. 
It  considers  all  the  various  religions  as  statements  of 
that  truth  from  difl"erent  points  of  view,  and  it  points 
to  the  fact  that  however  much  these  faiths  may  seem 


85 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHi 

to  differ,  its  teachings  explain  them  all.  It  shows  us 
also  the  relation  between  religion  and  science — that  they 
are  not  hostile  to  one  another,  as  is  usually  supposed, 
but  that  on  the  contrary  true  religion  should  welcome 
science,  as  affording  the  means  of  proof  for  its  teach- 
ings, while  science  may  learn  from  religion  the  direc- 
tion in  which  it  may  most  usefully  push  its  investiga- 
tions. Theosophy  is  itself  a  science,  and  the  greatest  of 
all,  for  it  is  the  Science  of  the  Soul;  it  carries  scientific 
methods  into  higher  realms  and  applies  them  to  the 
consideration  of  a  vast  field  of  facts  which  lie  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  physical  senses.  It  solves  for  us  many 
of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  life,  and  explains  for 
us  many  mysteries,  bringing  them  all  together  as 
parts  of  a  connected  scheme,  and  thus  making  them  at 
once  intelligible  and  rational. 

From  the  investigations  that  have  been  made,  there 
emerge  three  great  basic  truths, '  not  metaphysical 
speculation,  not  pious  opinions,  but  definite  scientific 
facts,  proved  and  examined  over  and  over  again  by 
many  students.     These  three  truths  are: 

1.  God  exists,  and  He  is  good.  He  is  the  great  life- 
giver  who  dwells  within  us  and  without  us,  and  is 
undying  and  eternally  beneficent.  He  is  not  heard,  nor 
seen,  nor  touched,  yet  is  perceived  by  the  man  who 
desires  perception. 

2.  Man  is  immortal,  and  his  future  is  one  whose 
glory  and  splendour  have  no  limit. 

3.  A  Divine  law  of  absolute  justice  rules  the  world, 
80  that  each  man  is  in  truth  his  own  judge,  the  dis- 
penser of  glory  or  gloom  to  himself,  the  decreer  of  his 
life,  his  reward,  his  punishment. 

Since  the  object  of  this  paper  is  not  to  explain  the 
scheme,  but  to  describe  its  results  in  daily  life,  I  may 
refer  the  reader,  for  further  exposition  of  it  to  "An 
Outline  of  Theosophy." 

When  those  three  great  basic  truths  and  all  the  de- 
ductions  which   naturally   follow   from   them   are   thor- 


THE   THREE   BASIC   TRUTHS 

oughly  comprehended,  they  introduce  so  radical  a  change 
inio  a  man's  life  that  it  is  not  easy  within  reasonable 
compass  to  give  any  idea  of  its  extent.  The  best  that 
can  be  done  is  to  mention  a  few  leading  ideas,  leaving 
the  reader  to  follow  out  the  necessary  ramifications 
for  himself. 

Finding  that  there  is  a  Supreme  Power  which  is 
directing  the  course  of  evolution  and  that  He  is  all- 
wise  and  all-loving,  we  see  that  everything  which  exists 
within  His  scheme  must  be  intended  to  further  its 
progress.  We  realize  that  all  things  are  working  to- 
gether for  good,  not  only  in  the  far  distant  future  but 
also  now  and  here.  The  final  attainment  of  unspeak- 
able glory  is  an  absolute  certainty  for  every  son  of  man, 
whatever  may  be  his  present  condition.  But  that  is 
by  no  means  all;  here  and  at  tnis  present  moment  he  is 
on  his  way  towards  that  glory;  and  all  tiie  circum- 
stances surrounding  him  are  intended  to  help  and  not 
to  hinder  him,  if  only  they  are  rightly  understood.  It 
is  sadly  true  that  in  the  world  there  is  much  of  evil 
and  of  sorrow  and  of  suff'ering;  yet,  from  the  higher 
point  of  view  we  may  see  that,  terrible  though  this  be, 
it  is  only  temporary  and  superficial,  and  is  all  being 
utilized  as  a  factor  in  the  progress. 

^Miile  we  look  at  it  from  its  own  level  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  see  this,  but  if  we  will  raise  ourselves 
above  it  and  look  upon  it  with  the  eyes  of  the  spirit  we 
shall  regard  it  as  a  whole,  and  thus  we  shall  compre- 
hend it.  While  we  are  looking  from  beneath  at  the 
under  side  of  life,  with  our  eyes  fixed  all  the  time  upon 
some  apparent  evil,  we  can  never  gain  a  true  grasp 
of  its  meaning;  but  if  we  rise  above  it  to  the  higher 
planes  of  thought  and  of  consciousness  we  can  look 
down  and  understand  it  in  its  entirety.  So  we  can 
see  that  in  very  truth  all  is  well.  Not  only  that  all 
will  be  well  in  some  remote  future,  but  that  even  now 
in  this  moment  in  the  midst  of  incessant  strife  and 
apparent  evil,  the  mighty  current  of  evolution  is  still 

87 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

flowing,  and  so  all  is  well  because  all  is  moving  on  in 
perfect  order  towards  the  final  goal. 

Regard  the  roaring  rapids  of  some  rolling  river,  svich 
as  Niagara,  and  picture  to  yourself  some  tiny  insect 
being  swept  down  upon  the  surface  of  the  water.  Think 
how  that  water  boils  and  foams  and  surges  and  rushes 
this  way  and  that  as  it  dashes  among  the  rugged  rocks, 
and  realize  how  impossible  it  would  be  for  that  tiny 
insect  to  see  anything  beyond  the  strife  and  the  stress 
and  the  foam  and  the  beating  backwards  and  forwards 
— how  to  him  inevitably  that  must  seem  the  whole 
world,  nothing  but  a  confusion  and  a  struggle  and  a 
buffeting,  carrying  him  sometimes  in  one  direction  and 
sometimes  in  the  other  without  any  ordered  progress 
or  any  comprehensible  object.  Yet  we  have  only  to  rise 
above  all  that  confusion,  to  stand  upon  the  bank  and 
look  down  upon  it,  and  we  observe  that  the  whole  body 
of  water  is  moving  steadily  onwards,  and  that  though 
here  and  there  there  are  little  eddies  in  which  part  of 
it  for  the  time  seems  to  be  running  backwards,  in 
reality  the  very  eddies  themselves  are  all  the  time 
sweeping  forwards  with  the  rest. 

Just  so  the  philosopher  who  can  raise  his  conscious- 
ness above  the  storm  and  stress  of  worldly  life  and 
look  down  upon  it  from  above  recognizes  what  seems  to 
us  to  be  evil  and  notes  how  it  is  apparently  pressing 
backward  against  the  great  stream  of  progress;  but 
he  also  sees  that  the  onward  sweep  of  the  Divine  law 
of  evolution  bears  the  same  relation  to  this  superficial 
evil  as  does  the  tremendous  torrent  of  Niagara  to  the 
fleckings  of  foam  upon  its  surface.  So  while  he  sym- 
pathizes deeply  with  all  who  suffer,  he  yet  realizes 
what  will  be  the  end  of  that  suffering  and  so  for  him 
despair  or  hopelessness  is  impossible.  He  applies  this 
consideration  to  his  own  sorrows  and  troubles  as  well  as 
to  those  of  the  world,  and  therefore  one  great  result 
of  his  Theosophy  is  a  perfect  serenity — even  more  than 
that,  a  perpetual  cheerfulness  and  joy. 

88 


RELIEF  FROM  FEAR 

For  him  there  is  an  utter  absence  of  worry,  because 
in  truth  there  is  nothing  left  to  worry  about,  since  he 
knows  that  all  must  be  well.  His  higher  science  makes 
him  a  confirmed  optimist,  for  it  shows  him  that,  what- 
ever of  evil  there  may  be  in  any  person  or  in  any  move- 
ment, it  is  of  necessity  temporary  because  it  is  op- 
posed to  the  resistless  stream  of  evolution;  whereas, 
whatever  is  good  in  any  person  or  any  movement  must 
necessarily  be  persistent  and  useful  because  it  has  be- 
hind it  the  omnipotence  of  that  current,  and  therefore 
it  must  abide  and  it  must  prevail.  Yet  it  must  not 
for  a  moment  be  supposed  that  because  he  is  so  fully 
assured  of  the  final  triumph  of  good  he  remains  care- 
less of  or  unmoved  by  the  evils  which  exist  in  the  world 
around  him.  He  knows  that  it  is  his  duty  to  combat 
these  to  the  utmost  of  his  power  because  in  doing  this 
he  is  working  upon  the  side  of  the  gi'eat  evolutionary 
force  and  is  bringing  nearer  the  time  of  its  ultimate 
victory.  None  will  be  more  active  than  he  in  labouring 
for  the  good,  even  though  he  is  absolutely  free  from  the 
feeling  of  helplessness  and  hopelessness  which  so  often 
oppresses  those  who  are  striving  to  helo  their  fellow- 
men. 

Another  most  valuable  result  of  Theosophical  study 
is  the  absence  of  fear.  Many  people  are  constantly 
anxious  or  worried  about  something  or  other;  they  are 
fearing  lest  this  or  that  should  happen  to  them;  lest 
this  or  that  combination  may  fail,  and  so  all  the  while 
they  are  in  a  condition  of  unrest.  The  majority  of 
their  fear  is  wholly  unnecessary,  and  most  of  the  things 
feared  never  come  to  pass ;  but  nevertheless  the  fact  re- 
mains that  large  numbers  of  people  are  constantly  giving 
themselves  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  suffering  in  this 
way.  Most  serious  of  all  for  many  is  the  fear  of  death. 
Quite  a  large  number  of  people  seem  to  have  it  always 
in  their  minds  as  an  ever-haunting  dread — a  sword  of 
Damocles  ever  hanging  over  their  heads,  ready  to  fall 
upon  them  at  any  moment. 

89 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

The  whole  of  that  feeling  is  entirely  swept  away  for 
the  man  who  understands  the  Theosophical  teaching. 
When  we  realize  the  great  truth  of  reincarnation,  when 
we  know  that  we  have  often  before  laid  aside  physical 
bodies,  then  we  shall  see  that  death  is  no  more  to  us 
than  sleep — that  just  as  sleep  comes  in  between  our 
days  of  work  and  gives  us  rest  and  refreshment,  so 
between  these  days  of  labour  here  on  earth  which  we 
call  lives,  there  comes  the  long  night  of  astral  and  of 
heavenly  life  to  give  us  rest  and  refreshment  and  to 
help  us  on  our  way.  To  the  Theosophist  death  is 
simply  the  laying  aside  for  a  time  of  this  robe  of  flesh. 
He  knows  that  it  is  his  duty  to  preserve  that  bodily 
vesture  as  long  as  he  can,  to  gain  all  the  experience  he 
can;  but  when  the  time  comes  for  him  to  lay  it  down, 
he  will  do  so  thankfully,  because  he  knows  that  the 
next  stage  will  be  a  very  much  pleasanter  one  than  this. 
Thus  he  will  have  no  fear  of  death,  although  he  realizes 
that  he  must  live  his  life  to  the  appointed  end,  because 
he  is  here  for  the  purpose  of  progress,  and  that  progress 
is  the  one  truly  momentous  matter.  See  what  a  differ- 
ence that  makes  in  a  man's  conception  of  life;  the  ob- 
ject is  not  to  earn  so  much  money,  not  to  obtain  such 
and  such  a  position;  the  one  important  thing,  when  we 
really  comprehend  it,  is  to  carry  out  the  divine  plan. 
For  this  we  are  here,  and  everything  else  should  give 
way  to  it.  It  needs  only  that  we  shall  understand  the 
facts,  and  all  fear  at  once  ceases. 

Another  great  point  which  we  gain  from  our  Theo- 
sophical teaching  is  that  we  have  no  longer  any  religious 
fears  or  worries  or  troubles.  Many  of  our  noblest  and 
best  people  are  constantly  morbidly  introspective,  con- 
stantly fearing  whether  at  the  last  they  may  not  some- 
how be  cast  away;  whether  they  may  not  fall  short  in 
some  way,  they  scarcely  understand  how,  of  the  de- 
mands which  their  faith  makes  upon  them. 

All  that  is  swept  aside  when  we  see  clearly  that 
progress  toward  the  highest  is  the  Divine  Will  for  us; 

90 


MAN,  KNOW  THYSELF 

that  we  cannot  escape  from  that  progress;  that  what- 
ever comes  in  our  way  and  whatever  happens  to  us  is 
meant  to  help  us  along  that  line;  that  we  ourselves 
are  absolutely  the  only  people  that  can  delay  our  ad- 
vance. When  we  really  know  this,  what  a  dilierence  it 
makes  in  the  aspect  of  life!  No  longer  do  we  trouble 
and  fear  about  ourselves;  we  simply  go  on  and  do  the 
duty  which  comes  nearest,  in  the  best  way  that  we  can, 
confident  that  if  we  do  this,  all  will  be  well  for  us 
without  our  perpetually  worrying. 

True,  we  are  told  in  the  wise  Greek  proverb:  "Know 
thyself."  True,  it  is  our  business  to  know  ourselves, 
and  to  discover  our  own  weak  points;  but  that  also 
must  be  done  according  to  reason  and  according  to 
common-sense,  and  we  must  not  be  like  those  tiny 
children  who,  when  they  make  a  garden,  are  constantly 
pulling  up  their  plants  to  see  how  much  they  are  grow- 
ing. That  is  exactly  what  so  many  good  people  are 
always  doing — they  are  perpetually  pulling  themselves 
up  by  the  roots  to  see  how  they  are  getting  on,  instead 
of  being  satisfied  quietly  to  do  their  duty,  and  trying 
to  help  their  fellows  in  the  race,  knowing  that  the 
great  Divine  Power  behind  will  press  them  onward 
slowly  and  steadily  and  do  for  them  all  that  can  be 
done,  so  Ion"'  as  their  faces  are  set  steadfastly  in  the 
right  direction,  so  long  as  they  do  all  that  they  reason- 
ably can. 

Since  we  are  thus  all  part  of  one  great  evolution  and 
all  very  literally  the  children  of  one  Father,  we  see 
that  the  Universal  Brotherhood  of  Humanity  is  no  mere 
poetical  conception,  but  a  definite  fact;  not  a  dream 
of  something  which  is  to  be  in  the  dim  distance  of 
Utopia,  but  a  condition  existing  here  and  now;  and  that 
is  why  the  promotion,  the  realization  of  that  Universal 
Brotherhood  is  the  first  Object  of  the  Theosophical 
Society.  And  the  certainty  of  this  all-embracing  fra- 
ternity gives  us  a  wider  outlook  upon  life  and  a  broad 
impersonal  point  of  view  from  which  to  regard  every- 

91 


A   PRIMER   OF   THE080PHY 

thing.  The  ordinary  man  looks  at  everything  from 
a  personal  point  of  view;  the  first  thing  and  often  the 
only  thing  that  he  thinks  about  is  how  a  certain  occur- 
rence is  going  to  affect  him;  if  he  thinks  of  its  effect 
on  the  community  at  large  it  is  only  as  an  after- 
thought. Theosophy  teaches  us  that  the  real  interests 
of  all  are  in  truth  identical,  and  that  no  man  can  ever 
make  a  real  gain  for  himself  at  the  cost  of  loss  or 
suffering  to  someone  else.  Once  more  we  must  insist 
that  this  also  is  not  taught  as  a  pious  belief,  but  is 
proved  as  a  scientific  fact. 

Many  a  man  is  under  the  delusion  that  he  gains  much 
for  himself  when  he  cheats  or  injures  another;  he  may 
even  think  that  he  can  prove  it  by  showing  the  dollars 
and  cents  which  he  has  amassed  in  this  nefarious  man- 
ner. But  in  truth  that  man  is  taking  a  ludicrously 
partial  view  of  the  case  and  is  leaving  out  of  account 
absolutely  every  factor  which  is  of  any  permanent 
value.  For  there  is  something  higher  and  greater  in  a 
man  than  the  physical  body,  which  is  after  all  nothing 
but  a  vesture,  and  that  which  is  of  importance  is  ^ot 
the  effect  of  any  given  transaction  upon  the  vesture, 
but  upon  the  man  who  wears  it;  and  it  is  found  by  in- 
vestigation that  the  effect  of  any  such  fraudulent  action 
upon  the  true  man,  the  soul,  is  limiting  and  debasing 
to  the  last  degree;  so  that  through  his  ignorance  of  the 
facts,  such  a  man  is  seriously  hindering  his  own  prog- 
ress for  the  sake  of  a  very  small  apparent  acquisition. 

Since  humanity  is  literally  a  whole,  nothing  which 
injures  one  man  can  ever  be  really  for  the  good  of  any 
other,  for  the  harm  done  influences  not  only  the  doer 
but  all  those  who  are  about  him.  So  the  student  soon 
comes  to  know  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  private 
gain  at  another  man's  cost,  and  that  the  only  true  • 
advantage  for  him  is  that  benefit  which  he  shares  with 
all.  He  sees  also  that  any  advance  which  he  makes  in 
the  way  of  spiritual  progress  or  development  is  some- 
thing secured  not  for  himself  alone  but  for  others,  as 

92 


TEE  BROTHERHOOD  OF  MAN 

we  shall  see  later  when  we  come  to  write  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  power  of  thought. 

If  he  gains  knowledge  and  self-control  he  assuredly 
acquires  much  for  himself,  yet  he  takes  nothing  away 
from  anyone  else,  but  on  the  contrary  he  helps  and 
strengthens  others.  Cognizant  as  he  is  of  the  absolute 
spiritual  unity  of  humanity,  he  knows  that  in  this 
lower  world  also,  in  real  truth,  the  interest  of  one  can 
never  be  opposed  to  the  interest  of  all,  and  so  that  no 
true  profit  can  be  made  by  one  man  which  is  not  made 
in  the  name  of  and  for  the  sake  of  all  humanity;  that 
one  man's  progress  must  be  a  little  lifting  of  the  burden 
of  all  the  others;  that  one  man's  advance  in  spiritual 
things  means  a  very  slight  yet  not  imperceptible  ad- 
vance to  humanity  as  a  whole;  that  everyone  who  bears 
sorrow  and  suffering  nobly  in  his  struggle  towards  the 
light  is  lifting  a  little  of  the  heavy  load  of  the  sorrow 
and  suffering  of  his  brothers  as  well. 

When  he  recognizes  this  brotherhood  not  merely  as 
a  hope  cherished  by  despairing  men  but  as  a  definite 
fact  following  in  scientific  series  from  all  other  facts, 
when  he  sees  this  as  an  absolute  certainty,  his  attitude 
towards  all  those  around  him  naturally  changes  very 
greatly.  It  becomes  a  posture  ever  of  helpfulness,  ever 
of  the  deepest  sympathy,  for  he  sees  that  nothing  which 
clashes  with  their  higher  interest  can  ever  be  the  right 
thing  for  him  to  do  or  can  ever  be  good  for  him  in  any 
way.  And  so  it  naturally  follows  that  he  becomes 
filled  with  the  widest  possible  tolerance  and  charity. 
He  cannot  but  be  always  tolerant  because  his  philosophy 
shows  him  that  it  matters  little  what  a  man  believes 
so  long  as  he  is  a  good  man  and  true.  Charitable  also 
he  must  be,  because  his  wider  knowledge  enables  him 
to  make  allowance  for  many  things  which  the  ordinary 
man  does  not  understand.  The  standard  of  the  Theo- 
sophical  student  as  to  right  and  wrong  is  always  higher 
than  that  of  the  less-instructed  man;  yet  he  is  far 
gentler  than  the  latter  in  his  feeling  towards  the  sin- 

93 


A   PRIMER   OF   THE080PHY 

ner,  because  he  comprehends  more  of  human  nature.  He 
realizes  how  the  sin  appeared  to  tlie  sinner  at  the  mo- 
ment of  its  commission,  and  so  he  makes  more  allow- 
ance than  could  possibly  be  made  by  the  man  who  is 
ignorant  of  all  this. 

He  goes  further  than  tolerance,  charity,  sympathy; 
he  feels  positive  love  towards  mankind,  and  that  leads 
him  to  adopt  a  position  of  ever-watchful  helpfulness- 
The  child  who  deeply  loves  his  mother  is  always  watch- 
ing for  an  opportunity  of  doing  some  little  thing  for 
her,  something  that  he  knows  will  please  her  or  save 
her  trouble.  It  is  just  that  attitude  of  watching  for  an 
opportunity  to  help  which  the  Theosophist  adopts 
towards  his  fellows.  He  feels  that  every  contact  with 
others  is  for  him  an  opportunity,  and  Theosophy  brings 
him  so  much  additional  knowledge,  that  there  is  hardly 
any  case  in  which  it  does  not  enable  him  to  give  advice 
or  help. 

Not  that  he  is  perpetually  thrusting  his  opinions 
upon  other  people;  on  the  contrary  he  observes  that 
just  this  is  one  of  the  commonest  mistakes  made  by 
the  uninstructed.  If  the  ordinary  man  has  a  definite 
opinion  of  his  own,  whether  it  be  upon  matters  religious, 
political,  or  social,  or  upon  any  of  the  other  subjects  of 
common  discussion,  he  is  for  ever  endeavouring  to  force 
that  opinion  upon  others  and  to  make  them  think 
exactly  as  he  does.  The  Theosophist  knows  that  all 
this  is  a  very  foolish  waste  of  energy,  and  therefore 
he  declines  to  argue.  If  anyone  desires  from  him  ex- 
planation or  advice  he  is  more  than  willing  to  give  it; 
yet  he  has  no  sort  of  wish  to  convert  anyone  else  to  his 
own  way  of  thinking. 

In  every  relation  of  life  this  idea  of  helpfulness 
comes  into  play— not  only  with  regard  to  our 
fellow-men,  but  also  with  regard  to  the  vast  animal 
kingdom  which  surrounds  us.  Units  of  this  kingdom  arc 
often  brought  into  very  close  relation  with  us,  and 
this   is  for  us  an  opportunity  of  doing  something  foi 

94 


THEOSOPHY  18   COMMON  8EX8E 

chem.  We  must  remember  that  these  animals  also  are 
our  brothers,  even  though  they  may  be  younger 
brothers.  It  is  the  same  great  Divine  Life  which  ani- 
mates them,  even  though  it  be  a  later  wave,  a  less 
developed  outpouring  of  that  life.  Still,  they  are  our 
brothers  and  we  owe  a  fraternal  duty  to  them  also — so 
to  act  and  so  to  think  that  our  relation  with  them  shall 
be  always  for  their  good  and  never  for  their  harm. 

Pre-eminently  and  above  all  else,  Theosophy  is  a 
doctrine  of  common-sense.  It  puts  before  us,  so  far  as 
we  can  know  them,  the  facts  about  God  and  man  and 
the  relations  between  them;  and  then  instructs  us  to 
take  these  facts  into  account,  and  act  in  relation  to 
them  with  ordinary  reason  and  common-sense.  This  is 
all  that  it  asks  from  any  man  as  regards  life.  It  sug- 
gests to  him  to  regulate  his  life  according  to  these  laws 
o"  evolution  which  it  has  taught  him.  That  is  all,  yet 
it  means  a  great  deal;  for  it  gives  the  man  a  totally 
different  standpoint,  and  a  touchstone  by  which  to  try 
everything — his  own  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  his  own 
actions  first  of  all,  and  then  those  things  which  come 
before  him  in  the  world  outside  himself. 

Always  he  applies  this  criterion,  is  the  thing  right  or 
wrong?  Does  it  help  evolution  or  does  it  hinder  it? 
If  a  thought  or  a  feeling  arises  within  himself,  he  may 
see  at  once  by  this  test  whether  it  is  one  that  he 
ought  to  encourage.  If  it  is  for  the  greatest  good  of 
the  greatest  number,  then  all  is  well;  if  it  may  hinder 
or  cause  harm  to  any  being  in  its  progress,  then  it  is 
evil  and  to  be  avoided.  Exactly  the  same  reasoning 
holds  good  if  he  is  called  upon  to  decide  with  regard  to 
anything  outside  of  himself.  If  from  that  point  of  view 
the  thing  be  a  good  thing,  then  he  can  conscientiously 
support  it;  if  not,  then  it  is  not  for  him. 

For  the  man  who  sees  the  truth  in,  this  way  the 
question  of  personal  interest  does  not  come  into  the 
case  at  all,  and  he  thinks  simply  of  the  good  of  evolu- 
tion as  a  whole.    This  gives  the  man  a  definite  foot-hold, 

95 


A   PRIMER   OF   THE080PHY 

a  clear  criterion,  and  removes  from  him  the  pain  of 
indecision  and  hesitation.  The  will  of  God  is  man's  evo- 
lution; whatever  therefore  helps  on  that  evolution  must 
be  good,  whatever  stands  in  the  way  of  it  and  delays  it, 
that  thing  must  be  wrong,  even  though  it  may  have  on 
its  side  all  the  weight  of  public  opinion  and  of  imme- 
morial tradition.  It  is  true  that  all  about  us  we  see 
infringements  of  the  Divine  Law  taking  place,  yet  we 
know  that  the  law  is  far  stronger  than  the  petty 
will  of  those  who  ignorantly  disobey  it;  we  know 
that  in  working  along  with  the  law  we  are  cer- 
tainly working  for  the  future,  and  that  though  at  the 
passing  moment  our  efforts  may  not  be  appreciated  the 
future  will  assuredly  do  us  justice.  Therefore  we  care 
little  for  the  judgment  of  those  who  do  not  yet  under- 
stand, since  our  knowledge  of  the  governing  laws 
enables  us  to  work  in  the'  right  direction. 

Of  no  less  importance  are  the  practical  deductions 
which  flow  from  the  second  of  the  great  truths  which 
we  stated  at  the  beginning  of  this  paper;  for  to  under- 
stand that  the  true  man  is  the  soul  and  not  the  body 
means  an  absolute  revolution  from  the  concepts  of  the 
majority  of  men  around  us.  Our  common  expressions 
in  every-day  life  show  the  most  astounding  practical 
materialism,  for  we  constantly  speak  of  "my  soul," 
showing  that  we  ordinarily  regard  the  body  as  the 
self  and  the  supposed  soul  as  part  of  its  property. 
Until  we  have  entirely  rid  ourselves  of  this  extraor- 
dinary delusion  that  the  body  is  the  man,  it  is  quite 
impossible  that  we  should  at  all  appreciate  the  real 
facts  of  the  case.  A  little  investigation  soon  shows  us 
that  the  body  is  only  a  vehicle  by  means  of  which  the 
man  manifests  himself  in  connection  with  this  par- 
ticular type  of  gross  matter  out  of  which  our  visible 
world  is  built,  and  that  the  man  himself  has  an  ex- 
istence quite  apart  from  his  body,  capable  of  being 
carried  on  at  a  distance  from  it  when  it  is  living  and 
entirely  without  it  when  it  is  dead. 

96 


SEEKING   PERFECT   DEVELOPMENT 

This  being  so,  it  becomes  evident  at  once  that  it  is 
the  life  of  the  soul  only  which  is  really  of  monent, 
and  that  everything  connected  with  the  body  must  un- 
hesitatingly be  subordinated  to  those  higher  interests. 
The  student  knows  that  this  earth-life  is  given  to  him 
for  the  purpose  of  progress,  and  that  that  progress  is 
the  one  really  important  thing.  We  shall  readily  see 
what  a  difference  this  makes  in  his  conception  of  life; 
the  objects  which  men  ordinarily  put  before  themselves 
at  once  fade  into  the  background,  for  he  sees  that 
whether  he  earns  a  certain  amount  of  money  or  whether 
he  obtains  some  particular  position  is  a  matter  of  com- 
paratively little  moment.  The  one  vital  thing,  now  that 
he  understands  life,  is  to  carry  out  the  Divine  plan, 
since  it  is  for  that  reason  that  he  is  here,  and  every- 
thing else  must  give  way  to  that.  The  real  purpose  of 
his  life  is  the  unfoldment  of  his  powers  as  a  soul,  the 
development  of  his  character.  It  is  with  this  object  only 
that  he  descends  into  physical  life,  in  order  that  through 
the  physical  body  he  may  gain  experience  which  would 
not  be  possible  to  him  on  a  higher  plane,  and  may  thus 
develop  within  himself  permanent  qualities. 

Closer  study  will  show  him  that  he  possesses  other 
vehicles  besides  the  physical  body,  and  that  through 
all  of  these  he  has  lessons  to  learn;  so  that  there  must 
be  development  not  only  of  the  physical  body,  but  also 
of  the  emotional  nature,  of  the  mind,  and  of  the  spir- 
itual perceptions.  The  detailed  method  by  which  all 
this  can  be  done  will  be  found  in  our  Theosophical  lit- 
erature; but  half  of  the  battle  is  already  won  when  the 
man  has  realized  the  necessity  of  this  effort  and  is  de- 
termined to  make  it.  In  connection  with  this  he  dis- 
covers three  great  points:  1.  That  nothing  short  of 
absolute  perfection  is  expected  of  him  in  regard  to  this 
development.  2.  That  all  power  with  regard  to  it  is 
in  his  own  hands.  3.  That  he  has  all  eternity  before 
him  in  which  to  attain  this  perfection,  but  that  the 
sooner  it  is  gained  the  happier  and  the  more  useful 
will  he  be. 

97 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPEY 

He  sees  that  what  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of  calling 
his  life  is  nothing  but  a  day  at  school,  and  that  his 
physical  body  is  merely  a  temporary  vesture  assumed 
for  the  purpose  of  learning  through  it.  He  knows  at 
once  that  this  purpose  of  learning  the  lesson  is  the  only 
one  of  any  real  importance,  and  that  the  man  who 
allows  himself  to  be  diverted  from  that  purpose  by  any 
consideration  whatever  is  acting  with  inconceivable 
stupidity.  To  him  who  thus  grasps  the  truth,  the  life 
of  the  ordinary  person  devoted  exclusively  to  physical 
objects,  to  the  acquisition  of  wealth  or  fame,  appears 
the  merest  child's  play — a  senseless  sacrifice  of  all  that 
is  really  w^orth  having  for  the  sake  of  a  few  moments* 
gratification  of  the  lower  part  of  man's  nature.  The 
student  "sets  his  affection  on  things  above  and  not  on 
things  of  the  earth"  not  only  because  he  sees  this  to  be 
the  right  course  of  action  but  because  he  realizes  very 
clearly  the  valulessness  of  these  things  of  earth.  He 
always  tries  to  take  the  higher  point  of  view,  for  he 
knows  that  the  lower  is  utterly  unreliable — that  the 
lower  desires  and  feelings  gather  round  him  like  a  dense 
fog  and  make  it  impossible  for  him  to  see  anything 
clearly  from  that  level.  Whenever  he  finds  a  struggle 
going  on  within  him — that  "law  of  the  members  warring 
against  the  law  of  the  mind,"  as  St.  Paul  puts  it,  he 
remembers  that  he  himself  is  the  higher,  and  that  this, 
which  is  the  lower,  is  not  the  real  self,  but  merely  an 
uncontrolled  part  of  one  of  its  vehicles.  He  identifies 
himself  never  with  the  lower,  but  always  with  the 
higher;  he  stands  on  its  side,  because  he  knows  that  the 
soul  is  the  true  man.  The  great  law  of  evolution  is 
steadily  pressing  us  on,  sweeping  us  ever  onward  and 
upward  along  the  course  that  all  must  take  sooner  or 
later.  But  it  is  obvious  that  the  better  we  understand 
tiie  Divine  law  under  which  we  are  living,  the  easier 
and  the  more  rapid  will  be  our  progi'ess.  No  doubt  even 
with  the  very  best  intentions  and  efforts  we  shall  make 
many  mistakes  and  shall  often  fall  by  the  way;  but  we 

98 


EACH  LIFE  A  DAY  IN  SCHOOL 

need  not  for  this  reason  become  the  victims  of  despair. 
Although  we  may  fail  a  thousand  times  on  the  way 
towards  our  goal,  our  reason  for  trying  to  reach  it  re- 
mains just  as  strong  after  the  thousandth  fall  as  it 
was  at  the  beginning,  so  that  it  would  not  only  be  use- 
less but  very  unwise  and  very  wrong  to  give  way  to 
despondency  and  hopelessness.  The  work  has  to  be  done, 
the  goal  has  to  be  attained,  and' each  man  must  always 
start  from  where  he  individually  stands;  it  is  futile 
for  him  to  think  that  he  will  wait  until  he  reaches  some 
other  position.  Therefore,  however  often  he  may  fail, 
he  must  still  get  up  and  go  on  again,  for  the  road  of 
progress  has  to  be  trodden. 

The  sooner  we  begin  it  the  better  for  us — not  only 
because  it  is  far  easier  for  us  now  than  it  will  be  if 
we  leave  the  effort  until  later,  but  chiefly  because  if  we 
make  the  endeavour  now  and  succeed  in  achieving  some 
progress,  if  we  "rise  thereby  to  some  higher  level,  we 
are  in  a  position  to  hold  out  a  helping  hand  to  those 
who  have  not  reached  even  that  step  of  the  ladder  which 
we  have  gained.  In  this  way  we  may  take  a  part, 
however  humble  it  may  be,  in  the  great  Divine  work  of 
evolution,  every  one  of  us,  because  each  has  his  own 
position  and  his  own  opportunities.  No  matter  how  low 
his  present  status  may  be,  yet  there  is  someone  still 
lower  to  whom  he  can  hold  out  a  helping  hand,  to  whom 
he  can  be  useful.  The  Theosophical  teaching  shows 
him  that  he  has  arrived  at  his  present  position  only 
by  a  very  slow  process  of  growth,  and  so  he  cannot 
expect  instantaneous  attainment  of  perfection;  but  it 
also  shows  him  how  inevitable  is  the  great  law  of  cause 
and  eff"ect,  and  he  sees  that  when  he  once  grasps  the 
working  of  that  law  he  can  use  it  intelligently  in  re- 
gard to  mental  and  moral  development,  just  as  on  the 
physical  plane  we  can  employ  for  our  own  assistance 
those  laws  of  nature,  the  working  of  which  we  have 
learned  to  understand. 

99 


A    PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

One  of  the  most  important  practical  results  of  a 
thorough  comprehension  of  Theosophical  truth  is  the 
entire  change  which  it  necessarily  brings  about  in  our 
attitude  towards  death.  It  is  impossible  to  calculate 
the  vast  amount  of  utterly  unnecessary  sorrow  and 
misery  which  mankind  in  the  aggregate  has  suffered 
simply  from  its  ignorance  with  regard  to  this  one 
matter  of  death.  There  is  among  us  a  mass  of  false 
and  foolish  belief  along  this  line  which  has  worked 
untold  evil  in  the  past  and  is  causing  indescribable 
affliction  in  the  present,  and  its  complete  eradication 
would  be  one  of  the  greatest  benefits  that  could  be 
conferred  upon  the  human  race.  This  benefit  Theosophy 
at  once  bestows  upon  those  who,  from  their  study  of 
philosophy  in  past  lives,  find  themselves  able  to  accept 
it.  It  robs  death  forthwith  of  all  of  its  terror  and 
much  of  its  sorrow,  and  enables  us  to  see  it  in  its 
true  proportions  and  to  understand  its  place  in  the 
scheme  of  our  evolution. 

The  man  who  understands  what  death  is  knows  that 
there  can  be  no  need  to  fear  it  or  to  mourn  over  it, 
whether  it  comes  to  himself  or  to  those  whom  he 
loves.  It  has  come  to  them  all  often  before,  so  that 
there  is  nothing  unfamiliar  about  it.  He  comprehends 
that  life  is  continuous  and  that  the  loss  of  the  physical 
body  is  nothing  more  than  the  casting  aside  of  an 
outworn  garment,  which  in  no  way  changes  the  real 
man  who  is  the  wearer  of  the  garment.  He  sees  that 
death  is  simply  a  promotion  from  a  life  which  is  more 
that  half  physical  to  one  which  is  wholly  superior;  so 
for  himself  he  unfeignedly  welcomes  it,  and  even  when 
it  comes  to  those  whom  he  loves,  he  recognizes  at  once 
the  advantage  for  them,  even  though  he  cannot  but 
feel  a  pang  of  regret  that  he  should  be  temporarily 
separated  from  thein. 

Further  study  shows  that  even  this  supposed  separa- 
tion is  in  fact  only  apparent  and  not  real,  for  he  learns 
that  the  so-called  dead  are  near  him  still,  and  that  he 

100 


TEE  BEAUTY  OF  THE  UNSEEN  WORLD 

has  only  to  cast  off  for  a  time  his  physical  body  in 
sleep  in  order  to  stand  side  by  side  with  them  as 
before.  He  sees  clearly  that  the  world  is  one,  and  that 
the  same  Divine  laws  rule  the  whole  of  it,  whether 
it  be  visible  or  invisible  to  physical  sight.  Conse- 
quently he  has  no  feeling  of  nervousness  or  strangeness 
in  passing  from  one  part  of  it  to  another,  and  no  sort  of 
uncertainty  as  to  what  he  will  find  on  the  other  side 
of  the  veil.  The  whole  of  the  unseen  world  is  so 
clearly  and  fully  mapped  out  for  him  through  the  work 
of  the  Theosophical  investigators  that  it  is  almost  as 
well  known  to  him  as  the  physical  life,  and  thus  he  is 
prepared  to  enter  upon  it  without  hesitation  whenever 
it  may  be  best  for  his  evolution. 

For  full  details  of  the  various  stages  of  this  higher 
life  we  must  refer  our  readers  to  the  books  specially 
devoted  to  this  subject;  it  is  sufficient  here  to  say 
that  the  conditions  into  which  the  man  passes  are 
precisely  those  that  he  has  made  for  himself.  He  who 
is  intelligent  and  helpful,  who  understands  the  condi- 
tions of  this  non-physical  existence,  and  takes  the  trouble 
to  adapt  himself  to  them  and  make  the  most  of  them, 
finds  open  before  him  a  splendid  vista  of  opportunities 
both  for  acquiring  fresh  knowledge  and  for  doing  useful 
work.  He  discovers  that  life  away  from  this  dense  body 
has  a  vividness  and  a  brilliancy  to  which  all  earthly 
enjoyment  is  as  nothing,  and  that  through  his  clear 
knowledge  and  calm  confidence  the  power  of  the  endless 
life  shines  out  upon  all  those  around  him.  We  have 
already  said  that  what  the  uninstructed  man  usually 
calls  his  life  is  only  one  day  in  the  real  and  wider  life, 
and  this  brings  us  at  once  to  the  consideration  of  the 
great  Theosophical  doctrine  of  Reincarnation. 

This  is  one  which  is  very  frequently  misunderstood, 
and  one  of  the  most  ordinary  misconceptions  in  con- 
nection with  it  is  to  confound  it  with  the  theory  of 
the  transmigration  of  human  souls  into  animal  bodies. 
Suffice   it   to  say  that   no   such  retrogression  is   within 

101 


A   PRIM  Eli   OF   THE080PHY 

the  limits  of  possibility.  Though  it  is  true  that  the 
physical  form  of  man  has  evolved  from  a  lower  kingdom, 
when  once  a  human  soul  has  come  into  existence  he 
can  never  again  fall  back  into  that  lower  kmgdom  of 
nature,  whatever  mistakes  he  may  make  or  however  he 
may  fail  to  take  advantage  of  his  opportunities.  Since 
this  day  of  life  is  a  day  at  school,  if  a  man  is  idle  in 
the  school  of  life  he  may  need  to  take  the  same  lesson 
over  and  over  again  before  he  has  really  learned  it,  but 
still  on  the  whole  progress  is  steady  even  though  it  may 
often  be  slow. 

Those  who  have  not  studied  it,  and  therefore  do  not 
know  all  that  it  means,  often  feel  great  objection  to 
this  doctrine  of  rebirth.  I  have  no  space  here  to  set 
forth  the  many  unanswerable  arguments  in  its  favour, 
but  they  are  fully  set  forth  in  the  second  of  our  Theo- 
sophical  Manuals  by  a  far  abler  pen  than  mine.  It 
should  also  be  remembered  that,  like  the  rest  of  the 
teaching,  this  is  not  a  hypothesis  but  a  matter  of 
direct  knowledge  for  many  of  us. 

Man  gains  very  greatly,  also,  from  obtaining  an  ac- 
curate idea  of  his  place  in  the  universe;  his  inherent 
self-conceit  is  wholesomely  curbed  by  the  realization  of 
other  and  far  grander  evolutions,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  receives  the  very  gTeatest  encouragement  from 
a  definite  certainty  of  the  future  that  lies  before  him 
and  the  splendour  of  the  goal  which  he  will  assuredly 
one  day  attain. 

In  what  has  already  been  written  we  have  constantly 
had  to  take  into  consideration  the  existence  of  the 
third  of  our  great  truths,  the  mighty  law  of  cause 
and  effect,  of  action  and  reaction,  or  of  the  readjust- 
ment of  equilibrium.  If  we  wish  to  understand  this 
great  fundamental  law,  we  must  wholly  dissever  it 
from  the  old  ecclesiastical  idea  of  reward  or  chastise- 
ment, and  we  must  apprehend  that  in  nature  the 
punishment  fits  the  crime  with  absolute  accuracy  and 
perfection  because  it  is  in  fact  part  of  it,  because  the 

102 


WE   REAP   AS    WE   HAVE   SOWN 

result  which  follows  the  cause  is  itself  part  of  that 
cause,  although  it  is  the  unseen  side  of  it.  Under  the 
operation  of  this  far-seeing  law  man  is  what  he  has 
made  himself  and  his  surrounding  circumstances  are 
those  which  he  himself  has  provided. 

Novel  though  this  idea  has  been  to  many,  it  should 
not  be  difficult  of  comprehension.  We  are  all  familiar 
with  the  suggestion  that  as  we  sow  so  shall  we  reap; 
it  is  merely  a  slight  extension  of  that  thought  to 
suppose  that  as  we  are  now  reaping,  whether  it  be  in 
circumstance  or  in  disposition,  so  have  we  sown  in  the 
remote  past  of  earlier  lives.  Indeed  there  is  no  other 
raiional  hypothesis  by  which  the  many  inequalities 
which  we  see  on  all  sides  of  us  can  be  explained.  For 
not  only  do  surroundings  and  opportunities  differ,  but 
it  is  painfully  obvious  that  men  ditier  greatly  in  them- 
selves and  that  some  are  in  every  conceivable  way  less 
evolved  than  others.  It  is  impossible  reasonably  to 
account  for  this  on  any  of  the  ordinary  theories,  with- 
out impugning  the  Divine  justice,  but  if  we  once  admit 
that  souls  are  of  different  ages  ana  therefore  need  differ- 
ent training  we  shall  see  that  a  flood  of  light  is  at 
once  poured  on  the  subject,  and  that  its  difficulties  one 
by  one  disappear. 

The  gross  and  brutish  man  is  simply  a  child-soul; 
where  he  stands  now  we  ourselves  stood  many  ages  ago; 
where  we  are  now,  there  he  will  also  stand  after  many 
more  of  these  school-days  which  we  call  lives.  And 
just  as  by  looking  back  on  the  savage  we  may  realize 
that  which  we  were  in  the  past,  so  by  looking  to  the 
greatest  and  wisest  of  mankind  may  we  realize  what 
we  shall  be  in  the  futufe.  There  have  been  and  there 
yet  are  among  men  those  who  tower  head  and  shoul- 
ders above  their  fellow-creatures  in  spiritual  develop- 
ment; the  Buddhas  and  the  Christs,  the  great  teachers 
and  the  philosophers — all  these  show  us  what  one  day 
we  shall  be,  and  so  we  see  an  unbroken  chain  of  de- 
velopment, a  ladder  of  perfection  rising  steadily  before 

103 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

us,  and  yet  with  human  beings  upon  every  step  of  it, 
so  that  we  know  that  those  steps  are  possible  for  us  to 
climb;  and  it  is  just  because  of  the  unchangeableness 
of  this  great  law  of  cause  and  effect  that  we  are  able 
to  climb  that  ladder — because,  since  the  law  works 
always  in  the  same  way,  we  can  depend  upon  it  and 
we  can  use  it,  just  as  we  use  the  laws  of  nature  on  the 
physical  plane. 

If  physical  laws  were  subject  to  capricious  variation, 
it  would  be  impossible  for  us  to  utilize  them,  since 
at  any  moment  our  machinery  might  fail  us  and  we 
could  have  no  certainty  of  any  kind  in  connection  with 
its  work;  but  just  because  we  can  invariably  rely  upon 
the  action  of  gravity  or  upon  the  expansion  of  a  gas 
we  feel  'reasonably  certain  in  our  employment  of  these 
natural  forces.  Just  in  the  same  way  when  we  know 
with  absolute  assurance  that  the  qualities  which  we 
possess  now  are  the  products  of  our  own  thought  and 
desire  in  the  past,  we  have  also  indubitable  evidence 
that  our  thought  and  desire  in  the  present  must  inevi- 
tably build  for  us  new  qualities  in  the  future,  and  there- 
fore that  we  can  make  ourselves  precisely  what  we  will. 

Not  immediately,  for  growth  is  slow  and  evil  habits 
take  long  to  eradicate;  nevertheless,  with  utter  cer- 
tainty. When  we  see  clearly  that  our  present  circum- 
stances are  the  results  of  our  actions  in  the  past  we 
see  also  at  the  same  time  that  we  can  so  arrange  our 
actions  in  the  present  as  to  mould  our  circumstances 
in  the  future,  and  thus  we  see  that  the  whole  of  that 
future  is  entirely  in  our  own  hands,  subject  only  to  un- 
exhausted effects  of  what  we  have  already  done  in  the 
past.  For  neither  thought  nor  action  necessarily  pro- 
duces all  its  effects  immediately.  Sometimes  it  may 
be  many  years  or  even  many  lives  before  the  full  re- 
sults become  apparent;  yet  never  does  the  slightest  of 
them  fail  of  final  fulfilment.  As  the  poet  Longfellow 
has  said: 

"Though  the  mills  of  God  grind  slowly. 
Yet  they  grind  exceeding  small; 
104 


TEE    MEANING    OF    SUFFERING 

X  hough  with  patience  stands  He  waiting, 
With  exactness  grinds  He  all."      ' 

From  this  great  law  flow  many  things.  If  once  one 
gains  this  idea  of  perfect  justice,  the  troubles  and 
sorrows  of  life  take  on  quite  a  new  aspect.  In  the  case 
of  the  ordinary  person  quite  a  small  trouble  will  often, 
because  it  is  so  close  to  him,  loom  up  so  large  as  to 
obscure  the  entire  horizon  for  him,  so  that  he  is  un- 
able to  see  that  the  very  sun  is  shining.  Everything  is 
altered  for  him;  all  life  takes  on  a  gloomy  look,  and  he 
believes  that  he  is  the  victim  of  some  especial  persecu- 
tion, when  all  the  time  the  trouble  in  reality  may  be  a 
very  small  matter.  Such  an  attitude  is  not  in  the 
least  possible  for  the  student  of  Theosophy,  for  his 
knowledge  brings  to  him  a  sense  of  perspective,  and 
shows  him  that  if  suffering  comes  to  him  it  comes 
because  he  has  deserved  it,  as  a  consequence  of  actions 
which  he  has  committed,  of  words  which  he  has  spoken, 
of  thoughts  to  which  he  has  given  harbour  in  previous 
days  or  perhaps  in  earlier  lives;  and  thus  the  w^liole 
idea  of  injustice  as  connected  with  misery  is  absolutely 
removed  for  him. 

He  comprehends  that  all  affliction  is  of  the  nature  of 
tlie  payment  of  a  debt,  and  therefore  when  he  has  to 
meet  the  troubles  of  life  he  takes  them  and  uses  them 
as  a  lesson  because  he  understands  why  they  have  come, 
and  is  in  reality  glad  of  the  opportunity  which  they 
give  him  to  pay  off  something  of  his  obligations,  even 
though  they  may  cause  him  much  sorrow  in  the  paying. 
Again  and  in  yet  another  way  does  he  take  them  as  an 
opportunity,  for  he  sees  that  there  is,  as  it  were,  an- 
other side  to  them  if  he  meets  them  in  the  right  way. 
Far  too  often  the  ordinary  man  makes  the  most  of 
his  troubles ;  he  anticipates  them  with  fear,  he  intensi- 
fies them  by  grumbling,  and  he  looks  back  upon  them 
with  regret  and  indignation. 

The  wise  man  spends  no  time  in  bearing  prospective 
burdens,  for  he  knows  that  nine-tenths  of  those  things 
which  people   fear  never  come  to  them,  and   that  even 
105 


A   PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

the  few  fears  which  are  realized  are  never  so  serious 
in  fact  as  they  appeared  beforehand  in  fancy;  and  so 
when  trouble  comes  to  him  he  does  not  aggravate  it  by 
foolish  repining,  but  sets  himself  to  endure  so  much 
of  it  as  is  inevitable  with  patience  and  with  fortitude. 
Not  that  he  submits  himself  to  it  as  a  fatalist  might, 
for  he  takes  adverse  circumstance  always  as  an  incentive 
to  such  self-development  as  may  enable  him  to  trans- 
cend it;  and  thus  out  of  the  result  of  long  past  evil 
he  brings  forth  the  seed  of  future  good.  For  in  the 
very  act  of  paying  the  outstanding  debt  he  develops 
qualities  of  courage  and  resolution  that  will  stand  him 
in  good  stead  through  all  the  ages  that  are  to  come. 

Though  it  is  true,  as  we  have  already  said,  that  the 
student  of  Theosophy  should  be  distinguishable  from 
the  rest  of  the  world  by  his  perennial  cheerfulness,  his 
undaunted  courage  under  difficulties,  and  his  ready 
sympathy  and  helpfulness,  yet  he  will  be  at  the  same 
time  emphatically  a  man  who  takes  life  seriously,  who 
realizes  that  there  is  much  for  every  one  to  do  in  the 
world,  that  there  is  no  time  to  waste.  Since  he  knows 
with  such  utter  certainty  that  he  not  only  makes  his 
own  destiny  but  may  also  gravely  affect  that  of  others 
around  him,  he  perceives  how  weighty  a  responsibility 
attends  the  use  of  this  power.  He  knows,  for  example, 
that  thoughts  are  things,  and  that  it  is  very  easily 
possible  to  do  great  harm  or  great  g  od  by  their  means. 
He  knows  that  no  man  liveth  to  himself,  for  his  every 
thought  acts  upon  others  as  well;  that  the  vibrations 
which  he  sends  forth  from  his  mind  and  from  his 
emotional  nature  are  reproducing  themselves  in  the 
minds  and  the  emotional  natures  of  other  men,  and  so 
that  he  is  a  source  either  of  mental  health  or  of  mental 
ill  to  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact. 

This  at  once  imposes  upon  him  a  far  higher  code 
of  social  ethics  than  that  which  is  known  to  the  outer 
world,  for  he  discovers  that  it  is  demanded  of  him 
to  control  not  only  his  acts  pM  his  words  but  also  his 
thoughts,  since  they  may  produce  effects  more  serious 
106 


THE  EFFECTS  OF  THOUGHTS 

and  more  far-reaching  than  their  expression  on  the 
physical  plane.  For  example,  one  of  the  commonest 
vices  in  this  age  of  overwork  and  overstrain  is  irrit- 
ability. Very  many  people  are  suffering  from  this,  and 
many  are  aware  of  the  failing  and  are  struggling  against 
it.  Every  time  that  a  man  yields  himself  to  this  feel- 
ing and  gives  w^ay  to  an  outburst  of  anger,  he  habituates 
himself  to  the  vibrations  which  express  this  feeling, 
and  so  makes  it  a  little  easier  to  repeat  them  next  time 
and  a  little  harder  to  resist  the  next  force  from  without 
which  may  impel  him  in  that  direction. 

But  he  also  radiates  these  vibrations  all  around  him 
and  they  impinge  upon  the  emotional  natures  of  other 
men  and  tend,  like  all  other  vibrations,  to  reproduce 
themselves.  So  that  if  some  of  those  others  be  striving 
against  this  vice  of  irritability,  his  vibrations  will  stir 
them  towards  that  emotion,  and  so  make  the  task  of 
control  more  difficult;  and  in  this  w^ay  by  his  own 
carelessness  he  adds  to  the  burden  which  his  brother 
has  to  bear.  If  on  the  other  hand  he  makes  a  heroic 
effort  and  controls  his  own  emotion,  he  sends  out  a 
vibration  of  serenity,  of  peace  and  of  harmony,  which 
also  tends  to  reproduce  itself  among  his  fellow-men,  and 
makes  it  easier  for  every  one  of  them  to  control  him- 
self in  turn.  Thus,  even  when  a  man  is  not  in  the  least 
thinking  of  others,  he  inevitably  affects  them  for  good 
or  for  evil. 

But  in  addition  to  this  unconscious  action  of  his 
thought  upon  others  he  may  also  employ  it  consciously 
for  good;  currents  may  be  set  in  motion  which  will 
carry  mental  help  and  comfort  to  many  a  suffering 
friend,  and  in  this  way  a  whole  new  world  of  usefulness 
opens  before  the  student.  In  this  case  as  in  every  other, 
knowledge  is  power  and  those  who  understand  the  law 
can  use  the  law.  Knowing  what  effects  upon  them- 
selves and  others  will  be  produced  by  certain  thoughts, 
they  can  deliberately  arrange  that  the  results  shall  be 
good  and  not  evil,  for  all  who  can  think  can  help  others, 

107 


A   PRIMER   OF  THE080PHY 

and  all  who  can  help  others  ought  to  help.  Thus  not 
only  from  selfish  but  from  the  far  higher  unselfish 
reasons  the  student  sees  the  necessity  for  gaining  per- 
fect control  of  the  various  parts  of  his  nature,  because 
only  in  that  way  can  he  progress  and  only  in  that  way 
can  he  be  thoroughly  fitted  to  help  others  when  the 
opportunity  comes  to  him. 

Thus  he  will  range  himself  ever  on  the  side  of  the 
higher  rather  than  the  lower  thought,  the  nobler  rather 
than  the  baser;  his  toleration  will  be  perfect  because 
he  sees  the  good  in  all.  He  will  deliberately  take  the 
optimistic  rather  than  the  pessimistic  view  of  every- 
thing, the  hopeful  'rather  than  the  cynical,  because  he 
knows  that  to  be  fundamentally  the  true  view,  the 
evil  in  everything  being,  as  we  have  said  before,  neces- 
sarily the  impermanent  part,  since  in  the  end  only  the 
good  can  endure.  In  this  way  by  looking  ever  for  the 
good  in  everything  that  he  may  endeavor  to  strengthen 
it,  by  striving  always  to  help  and  never  to  hinder,  he 
will  become  ever  of  greater  use  to  his  fellow-men  and 
thus  will  become  in  his  small  way  a  co-worker  with 
the  splendid  stream  of  evolution. 

From  what  has  already  been  written  it  will  be  seen 
that  Theosophy  is  in  no  way  unpractical  or  indefinite, 
but  that  on  the  contrary  it  has  information  to  give 
which  is  of  the  greatest  value  to  every  human  being, 
whether  it  be  to  the  child  or  the  parent,  to  the  man 
of  business  or  the  artist,  to  the  scientist,  the  poet,  or 
the  philosopher.  Wherever  it  has  spread  its  uplifting 
force  has  been  felt,  and  already  it  has  done  much  noble 
work  towards  the  realization  of  the  idea  of  Universal 
Brotherhood. 

An  examination  of  its  principles  will  at  once  show 
that  if  they  were  generally  accepted  war  between  nation 
and  nation  or  strife  between  class  and  class  would  be- 
come a  ridiculous  impossibility,  and  that  its  thorough 
comprehension  could  not  but  raise  man's  actions  and 
thoughts   to  a  plane  far  higher  than  at  present.     For 

108 


TEE   BENEFITS   OF   THEOSOPHIC    STUDY 

this  knowledge  means  not  only  power,  but  progress  and 
unfoldment  and  the  spreading  of  the  truth  means 
the  advancement  of  the  world. 

Summary.  Surely,  all  mankind  would  be  the  better 
for  the  development  of  that  serenity  and  joyousness 
which  comes  from  the  knowledge  that  all  things  are 
working  together  for  good;  for  the  attainment  of  that 
wider  outlook  which  shows  us  that  no  man  can  ever  gain 
at  the  cost  of  another;  for  the  widest  tolerance  and  the 
deepest  sympathy;  for  the  attitude  of  universal  help- 
fulness, towards  the  lower  kingdoms  as  well  as  towards 
men;  for  the  possession  of  a  criterion  by  which  all 
actions  and  all  thoughts  may  be  tried;  for  the  knowl- 
edge that  man  is  a  boul  and  not  a  body,  and  that 
therefore  the  life  of  the  soul  is  his  life,  and  that  his 
work  here  is  its  development;  tliat  death  is  something 
not  to  be  feated  but  to  be  understood;  that  there  is 
no  injustice  in  the  world,  since  people  are  what  they 
have  made  themselves  in  previous  lives,  and  have  what 
they  have  deserved  to  have;  that  therefore  they  are 
absolutely  the  makers  of  their  own  destiny,  and  that 
every  word  or  thought  or  action  is  a  stone  in  that 
edifice  of  the  future;  hence  that  they  are  responsible 
for  their  thoughts,  and  it  is  their  duty  to  purify  and 
to  enrich  them,  not  only  in  order  that  they  may  them- 
selves approach  perfection,  but  also  that  they  may  be 
more  useful  to  their  fellow-men. 

Those  who  will  study  this  Theosophical  teaching 
will  find,  as  we  have  found  who  are  older  students, 
that  year  after  year  it  will  grow  more  interesting  and 
more  fascinating,  giving  them  more  and  more  satisfac- 
tion for  their  reason  as  well  as  more  perfect  fulfilment 
and  realization  of  their  higher  aspirations.  Those  who 
examine  it  will  never  regret  it;  through  all  their  future 
lives  they  will  find  reason  to  be  thankful  that  they 
undertook  the  study  of  the  magnificent  and  all-em- 
bracing Wisdom-Religion  which  in  these  modern  days 
we  call  Theosophy. 

109 


THE  FOUXDIXG  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

THE  HISTORY  AND  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE 
THEOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY. 

The  Society  began  its  career  in  New  York  City. 
November  17,  1875,  when  under  the  inspiration  of 
Madame  Blavatsky.  Colonel  H.  S.  Olcott,  W.  Q.  vjudge, 
and  a  few  friends  joined  her  in  organizing  to  study 
Occultism  and  spread  the  liberalizing  doctrines  of  Uni- 


Headquarters  of  the  Society,  Adyar,  India. 
versal  Brotherhood.  Colonel  Olcott  was  elected  Presi- 
dent. Madame  Blavatsky  and  Colonel  Olcott  soon  re- 
moved to*  India,  where  they  established  the  present 
headquarters  of  the  Society  at  Adyar,  a  suburb  of 
Madras,  and  outlined  the  work  and  the  purpose  of  our 
brotherhood.  To  Colonel  Olcott  is  due  the  present 
division  of  the  world-field  into  sections  corresponding 
to  the  larger  geogi-aphical  and  political  departments 
of  the  earth. 

Each  section  is  to  a  large  degree  autonomous.  It  elects 
its  own  officers,  a  general  secretary  and  an  executive 
committee,  and  holds  annual  meetings  of  delegates  who 
are  responsible  for  the  framing  of  its  local  constitution 
and  by-laws,  which,  however,  may  not  conflict  with 
those  of  the  Society-at-large.  The  Society  as  a  whole 
has  its  organization,  which  is  headed  by  the  President, 
who,  at  present,  is  Mrs.  Annie  Besant,  who  was  elected 
to  succeed  Colonel  Olcott,  who  died  in  1907.  A  general 
council  exists  in  which  the  General  Secretaries  have 
seats. 

110 


OUR  ORGANIZATION 

It  will  thus  been  seen  that  while  the  Society  is 
closely  knit  together,  it  has  also  a  proper  degree  of 
elasticity  and  freedom  in  its  local  workings.  Its  pres- 
idents are  energetic  people  who  travel  a  great  deal, 
visiting  the  sections  and  lecturing  before  them  as  often 
as  possible. 

The  solidarity  and  unity  of  the  body  are  pTienomenal. 
The  interest  maintained  in  the  work  of  the  society^  by 
the  members  is  enthusiastic,  and  is  fostered  by  period- 
icals in  over  twenty  languages  of  Europe  and  Asia. 

Each  section,  as  has  been  said,  holds  its  annual  con- 
vention and  maintains  lecturers,  who  visit  the  branches 
and  instruct  members  both  in  classes  and  individually. 
The  sections  are  in  internal  communication  through 
their  own  periodicals. 

The  general  headquarters,  at  Adyar,  Madras,  com- 
prise the  presidential  and  secretarial  offices,  and  the 
Adyar  librarv,  consisting  of  13,000  oriental  manuscripts, 
and  about  15,000  printed  books  on  eastern  and  western 
religion,  philosophy  and  science.  The  grounds  on  which 
the  headquarters  buildings  stand  have  a  frontage  upon 
the  Adyar  River  and  upon  the  Indian  Ocean  and  cover 
over  one  hundred  and  thirty  acres. 

Psychic  Practices.  Theosophists  have  ever  deprecated 
the  attempt  to  develop  clairvoyance,  clairaudience,  leav- 
ing the  body  at  will,  levitation,  etc.— by  means  of  such 
methods  or  "yogi  practices"  as  regulated  breathing,  crys- 
tal-gazing, automatic  writing,  looking  concentratedly  at 
points,  circles,  svmbols,  etc.  There  are  two  forms  of 
psychism,  a  lower  and  a  higher.  The  lower  offers  com- 
paratively easy  methods  of  gaining  a  few  elementary 
psychic  powers,  without  first  insisting  on  a  purified  heart, 
a  cultured  mind,  and  a  deep  aspiration  for  service.  This 
lower  psychism  is  disastrous  to  the  student  sooner  or 
later,  not  infrequently  ruining  his  health,  and  worse 
still  making  him  unbalanced  and  half  insane.  This  is 
the  "left-hand  path  of  Yoga,"  that  panders  to  the  refined 
selfishness,  pride  and  vanity  of  unscrupulous  natures. 

Ill 


A  PRIMER  OF  THEO SOPHY 
The  right-hand  path  of  the  Higher  Psychism  lays 
down  as  the  first  qualification  a  spotlessly  pure  moral 
life.  In  this  path,  a  desire  to  acquire  powers  is  more 
a  hindrance  than  a  help.  Needless  to  say,  any  exercise 
of  a  power,  hypnotic  or  otherwise,  to  tamper  with  an- 
other's freedom  of  Avill,  or  to  acquire  knowledge  in  ways 
that  would  be  considered  dishonorable  in  the  moral  code 
of  civilized  nations,  immediately  stamps  a  man  as  a 
practitioner  of  "black  magic."  The  ideals  of  the  Higher 
Psychism  cannot  better  be  summed  up  than  in  these 
words  Tennyson  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Athene,  Goddess 
of  Wisdom: 

"Self-reverence,  self-knowdedge,  self-control, 
These  three  alone  lead  life  to  sovereign  power. 
Yet  not  for  power  (power  of  herself 
Would  come  uncall'd  for),  but  to  live  by  law, 
Acting  the  law  we  live  by  without  fear; 
And  because  right  is  right,  to  follow  right 
Were  wisdom  in  the  scorn  of  consequence." 
Objects  of  the  Theosophical  Society.     Every  religious 
leader  has  in  one  form  or  other  proclaimed  the  Brother- 
hood   of   Man.      To   love   one's    neighbour   as   one's    self 
is  the  ethicnl  teaching  of  the  East  and  the  West.     Yet 
in    spite    of    the    teaching    of    thousands    of    years    the 
Brotherhood  of  Man  seems  as  far  off  as  ever. 

Theosophy  shows  how  this  ideal  can  be  achieved  in 
a  new  way,  by  appealing  not  merely  to  the  emotions 
but  by  showing  to  the  logical  intelligence  why  the  law 
of  love  is  the  principle  of  individual  and  collective 
growth.  It  combats  materialism  by  pointing  out  the 
facts  of  the  seen  and  the  unseen  that  materialism  ig- 
nores, and  strives  to  abolish  sectarianism  by  showing 
the  common  spiritual  basis  of  all  religious  cults. 

Theosophy  offers  "the  materials  for  a  needed  uni- 
versal religious  philosophy;  one  impregnable  to  scien- 
tific assault,  because  itself  the  finality  of  absolute 
science,  and  a  religion  that  is  indeed  worthy  of  the  name 
since  it  includes  the  relations  of  man  physical  to  man 
psychical,  and  of  the  two  to  all  that  is  above  and 
below  them."* 
*A.  P.  Sinnett,  "The  Occult  World." 
il2 


OBJECTS  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

The  objects  of  the  Society  are  stated  in  its  constitu- 
tion, as  follows:  , 

pirst— To  form  a  nucleus  of  the  Universal  Brother- 
hood of  Humanity,  without  distinction  of  race,  creed, 
sex,  caste,  or  color. 

Second.— To  encourage  the  study  of  comparative  re- 
ligion, philosophy  and  science. 

Third.— To  investigate  unexplained  laws  of  Nature 
and  the  powers  latent  in  man. 

^Tts  chief  aim  is  to  extirpate  current  superstitions 
and  skepticism,  and  from  long-sealed  ancient  fountains 
to  draw  the  proof  that  man  may  shape  his  own  future 
destiny,  and  know  for  a  certainty  that  he  can  live  here- 
after, if  he  only  wills,  and  that  all  'phenomena'  are  but 
manifestations  of  natural  law,  to  try  to  comprehend 
which  is  the  duty  of  every  intelligent  being."* 

"The  Theosophical  Society  is  composed  of  students, 
belonging  to  any  religion  in  the  worll  or  none,  who  are 
united  by  their  approval  of  the  above  objects,  by  their 
wish  to  remove  religious  antagonisms  and  to  draw 
together  men  of  good-will  whatsoever  their  religious 
opinions,  and  by  their  desire  to  study  religious  truths 
and  to  share  the  results  of  their  studies  with  others. 
Their  bond  of  union  is  not  the  profession  of  a  common 
belief,  but  a  common  search  and  aspiration  for  Truth. 
They  hold  that  Truth  should  be  sought  by  study,  by 
reflection,  by  purity  of  life,  by  devotion  to  high  ideals, 
and  they  regard  Truth  as  a  prize  to  be  striven  for,  not 
as  a  dogma  to  be  imposed  by  authority.  They  con- 
sider that  belief  should  be  the  result  of  individual  study 
or  intuition,  and  not  its  antecedent,  and  should  rest 
on  knowledge,  not  on  assertion.  They  extend  tolerance 
to  all,  even  to  the  intolerant,  not  as  a  privilege  they 
bestow,  but  as  a  duty  they  perform,  and  they  seek  to 
remove  ignorance,  not  to  punish  it.  They  see  every 
religion   as   an  expression  of   the  Divine   Wisdom,  and 

*"The  Occult  Worid." 

113 


A    PRIMER   OF  THEOSOPHY 

prefer  its  study  to  its  condemnation,  and  its  practice 
to  proselytism.  Peace  is  their  watch-word,  as  Truth  is 
their  aim. 

Theosophy  is  the  body  of  truths  which  forms  the 
basis  of  all  religions,  and  which  cannot  be  claimed  as 
the  exclusive  possession  of  any.  It  offers  a  philosophy 
which  renders  life  intelligible,  and  which  demonstrates 
the  justice  and  love  which  guide  in  its  evolution;  it 
puts  death  in  its  rightful  place,  as  a  recurring  inci- 
dent in  an  endless  life,  opening  the  gateway  of  a 
fuller  and  more  radiant  existence.  It  restores  to  the 
world  the  science  of  the  spirit,  teaching  man  to  know 
the  spirit  as  himself,  and  the  mind  and  body  as  his 
servants.  It  illuminates  the  scriptures  and  doctrines 
of  religions  by  unveiling  their  hidden  meanings,  and 
thus  justifying  them  at  the  bar  of  intelligence,  as  they 
are  ever  justified  in  the  eyes  of  intuition. 

Members  of  the  Theosophical  Society  study  these 
truths,  and  Theosophists  endeavor  to  live  them.  Every 
one  willing  to  study,  to  be  tolerant,  to  aim  high  and  to 
work  perseveringly  is  welcomed  as  a  member,  and  it 
rests  with  the  member  to  become  a  true  Theosophist."* 

No  person's  religious  opinions  are  asked  upon  his 
joining,  nor  any  interference  with  them  permitted,  but 
every  one  is  required,  before  admission,  to  promise  to 
show  towards  his  fellow-members  the  same  tolerance  in 
this  respect  as  he  claims  for  himself. 

The  motto  of  the  Society  is  that  of  the  princely 
family  of  the  Maharajahs  of  Benares,  "There  is  no  Re- 
ligion higher  than  Truth." 

H.   P.   Blavatsky. 
Helena  Petrovna  Blavatsky,  born  in  1831,  was  a  Rus- 
sian   lady    of    noble    family.      Her    father    was    Colonel 
Peter   Hahn,    her    mother    Helene    Fadeef,    daughter    of 
Privy-Councillor   Andre    Fadeeff  and   the   Princess   Dol- 

*Annie  Besant. 

114 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  THE  SOCIETY 

gorouki.  When  quite  young  she  married  General  Nice- 
phore  Blavatsky,  Councillor  of  State,  and  Vice-Governor 
of  the  Province  of  Erivan.  In  1852,  when  she  was  in 
London  with  her  father,  she  met  there  her  Adept 
teacher,  a  prince  of  India,  then  on  a  visit  to  England. 
He  told  her  what  work  she  would  have  to  do  in  com- 
bating materialism.  After  some  years'  sojourn  in  the 
East  with  her  Master,  he  commissionea  her  to  go  out 
into  the  world  to  form  an  organization  through  which 
the  ancient  wisdom  of  the  East  could  once  more  be 
given  to  the  world. 

Acting  under  orders  she  came  to  America  in  1873. 
Then  she  sought  out  Colonel  Olcott,  whose  name  had 
been  told  her,  as  that  of  a  future  collaborator.  In  her 
first  years  in  America  she  tried  to  show  the  occult  and 
scientific  basis  of  spiritualistic  phenomena,  but  spirit- 
ualists then  cared  more  for  phenomena  than  for  a  com- 
prehension of  their  scientific  significance. 

In  1875  she  inspired  the  formation  of  the  Theosophical 
Society,  of  which  she  was  appointed  corresponding 
secretary.  In  1880,  in  Simla  in  India,  she  showed 
publicly  to  interested  friends  her  possession  of  many 
occult  powers.  The  story  of  these  phenomena  will  be 
found  in  "The  Occult  World,"  by  A.  P.  Sinnett.  In 
1884  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research  to  prove  her  a  fraud  and  trickster.  The  late 
Dr.  Richard  Hodgson  was  sent  to  India  as  a  judicial 
commissioner  to  investigate  and  report.  Not  under- 
standing the  first  principles  of  occultism,  and  intensely 
materialistic  in  his  standpoint,  refusing  to  believe  any- 
thing he  could  not  account  for,  his  report  was  con- 
demnatory. He  gave  ear  to  the  testimony  of  discharged 
employes,  whose  mendacity  has  been  clearly  proved  and 
utterly  refused  to  credit  the  written  and  spoken  tes- 
timony of  honourable  people  in  responsible  public  posi- 
tions. The  whirligig  of  time  brings  many  curious 
changes,  and  none  more  remarkable  than  that  Dr.  Hodg- 
son and  the  late  F.  W.  H.  Myers  before  their  deaths 
went  far  toward  establishing  as  proved  facts  phe- 
115 


A    PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 

nomeiia  such  as  were  condemned  years  before.  Facts 
that  Dr.  Hodgson  either  glossed  over  or  totally  ignored 
because  they  contradicted  his  report,  can  be  seen  in 
"H.  P.  Blavatsky  and  the  Masters  of  Wisdom,"  by 
Annie  Besant,  and  "The  Occult  World,"  by  A.  P.  Sinnett. 
Madame  Blavatsky  passed  away  in  May,  1891.  Her 
monumental  work  is  "The  Secret  Doctrine,"  in  three 
volumes,  other  writings  being  "Isis  Unveiled,  "The  Voice 
of  the  Silence,"  "A  Key  to  Theosophy,"  etc. 

H.  S.  Olcott. 

Henry  Steel  Olcott  was 
born  in  1832  in  Orange, 
New  Jersey.  Up  to  the 
time  of  the  Civil  W^ar  he 
worked  as  an  agricultur- 
al expert,  being  at  one 
time  associate  agricul- 
tural editor  of  the  "New 
York  Tribune."  During 
tlie  war  he  served  in  the 
Northern  Army  under 
General  Burnside.  He 
was  then  appointed  by 
the  War  Department  to 
inquire  into  department- 
al frauds.  For  success 
in  this  work  he  was  ap- 
pointed Special  Commissioner  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment and  was  lent  to  the  Navy  Department  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  abuses  of  the  Navy  Yards.  It 
was  later  when  he  was  sent  by  the  "New  York  Sun" 
and  the  "New  York  Graphic"  to  investigate  the  spirit- 
ualistic manifestations  at  the  Eddy  farm  that  he  met 
there  a  remarkable  visitor,  Madame  H.  P.  Blavatsky. 
From  this  period  began  a  collaboration  which  was  ended 
only  by  death. 

Colonel  Olcott  was  a  magnificent  organizer.     He  saw 
in   the    Theosophical    movement   a   great   unifier   of   re- 
116 


TEE  PRESIDENT   OF   THE   SOCIETY 


ligions  and  nations,  and  dedicating  himself  to  the  work 
he  traveled  all  over  the  world  proclaiming  the  broad 
fraternal  platform  of  Theosophy.  To  his  inspiration 
and  help  are  due  the  self-supporting  educational  move- 
ment among  the  Buddhists  of  Ceylon;  the  drawing  to- 
gether of  the  Buddhists  of  Ceylon,  Burma,  and  Siam, 
and  those  of  Japan  and  China,  to  a  common  plat- 
form; and  the  foundation  in  Southern  India  of 
schools  for  the  education  of  the  outcaste  pariahs.  The 
history  of  the  Theosophical  Society  has  been  charm- 
ingly written  by  him  in  "Old  Diary  Leaves,"  in  three 
volumes.  Colonel  Olcott  died  at  the  Headquarters  in 
February,  1907. 

Mrs.  Annie  Besant. 
The  present  President  of  the  Theosophical  Society  is 
known  by  name  to  all  instructed  people.  Her  father, 
though  belonging  to  a  Devonshire  family,  was  half 
Irish.  Her  mother  was  pure  Irish.  Hence  Miss  Annie 
Wood,  born  in  London  in  1847,  is  three-quarters  Irish. 
In  1867  she  married  the  Reverend  Frank  Besant,  brother 

of  the  novelist.     Two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter, 

were  born  to  her,  both  still  living  and  deeply  devoted 

to    her.       The    marriage 

was  an  unhappy  one,  and 

a    divorce    could    easily 

have  been  secured  on  the 

ground    of    cruelty,    but 

only    a    separation    was 

arranged. 

In    1871    the  long   and 

painful     illness     of     her 

baby    daughter    and    the 

terrible   suffering  visited 

upon  the  child  by  a  De- 
ity  Who   seemed   to   her 

unjust,    shook   her    faith 

in  religion  and  from  this 

point  began  her  rebellion 

against  orthodoxy. 

117 


A    PRIMER   OF   THEO SOPHY 

In  1874  began  her  collaboration  with  Charles  Brad- 
laugh,  For  twelve  years  she  worked  for  the  National 
Secular  Society,  fighting  against  orthodox  narrowness 
and  illiberal  oppression  of  freedom  of  thought.  This 
was  a  period  of  atheism,  where  there  was  not  so  much 
the  denial  of  God,  as  the  assertion  that  a  wish  to  be- 
lieve in  His  existence  was  not  suflicient  proof  of  that 
existence.  Her  strong  love  of  the  popular  masses 
brought  her  into  contact  in  1884  with  leading  socialists 
of  England  like  George  Bernard  Shaw. 

Her  first  introduction  in  this  life  to  Theosophy  and 
Occultism  was  in  1889,  when  W.  T.  Stead  of  the  "Re- 
view of  Reviews"  gave  her  to  review  two  large  volumes, 
"The  Secret  Doctrnie,"  by  H.  P.  Blavatsky.  When  she 
read  that  work  she  knew  that  her  search  for  truth  was 
over  and  that  through  storm  she  had  come  to  peace. 
Since  then  she  has  represented  Theosophy  and  the 
Theosophical  Society  in  every  part  of  the  globe.  Prob- 
ably now  the  most  brilliant  orator  in  the  English-speak- 
ing world,  she  combines  a  broad  and  powerful  intellect 
with  wonderful,  artistic  expression  and  deep  intuitive 
insight  into  the  workings  of  Nature.  Her  writings  are 
many,  most  noteworthy  among  them  being  "The  Ancient 
Wisdom,"  "A  Study  in  Consciousness,"  "In  the  Outer 
Court,"  and  "Esoteric  Christianity."  Mrs.  Besant  is  a 
good  linguist,  often  lecturing  in  French.  She  knows 
Sanskrit,  and  has  translated  into  English  the  "Bhagavad 
Gita."  In  May,  1907,  for  a  term  of  seven  years,  she 
was  elected  President  of  the  Society. 

C.  W.  Leadbeater. 
One  of  the  most  valued  contributors  to  Theosophical 
literature  is  C.  W.  Leadbeater.  He  was  born  in  England 
in  1847.  Several  years  of  boyhood  were  spent  in  travel 
and  adventure  in  South  America.  He  was  ordained  a 
priest  of  the  Church  of  England  and  had  already  worked 
as  a  curate  for  some  years  when  in  1883  he  gained  his 
first    knowledge    of   Theosophy    from    Sinnett's    "Occult 

118 


MR.  C.  W.  LEADBEATER 


World."  For  many  years 
he  had  been  a  close  stu- 
dent of  spiritualistic  phe- 
nomena. In  1884  he  left 
the  church  and  formally 
attached  himself  to  the 
Theosophical  movement 
and  went  to  India  with 
Madame  Blavatsky. 

During  his  stay  in  In- 
dia he  was  definitely 
trained  by  his  Adept 
teachers  to  develop  clair- 
voyant and  other  powers 
of  consciousness.  The  use 
of  his  super-normal  fac- 
ulties is  as  much  a  part 
of  his  normal  life  as  it 

is  for  one  not  blind  to  see.  The  great  value  of  his  many 
writings  lies  in  the  fact  that  he  shows  that  the  super- 
physical  worlds,  the  astral  plane,  the  mental  plane,  the 
Buddhic  plane,  are  as  fully  comprehensible  by  the 
human  intellect  by  scientific  methods  of  investigation 
as  is  any  field  or  forest  on  the  physical  plane.  He 
shows  that  there  is  no  unbridgeable  gap  between  the 
seen  and  the  unseen;  that  Occultism  is  not  a  vague, 
mystical  tradition  to  be  accepted  with  faith,  but  on  the 
other  hand  a  science  of  nature  in  the  study  of  which 
man  not  only  finds  fascination  and  inspiration  but  also 
those  fundamental  laws  which  affect  his  life  for  better 
or  for  worse.  A  list  of  his  writings  which  are  both 
charming  and  direct  will  be  found  elsewhere. 
C.  Jinarajadasa. 

Among  the  younger  workers  in  the  Society  is  C. 
Jinarajadasa.  He  was  born  in  1875  in  Ceylon,  in  the 
Sinhalese  branch  of  the  Hindu  race.  He  studied  lan- 
guages and  law  in  England  at  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge,   and    took    his    degree    in    1900.      Later,    for    a 


119 


A    PRIMER   OF   THEOSOPHY 


while,  he  acted  as   Vice-Principal   of  Ananda   Buddhist 
College,  Colombo. 

Mr.  Jinarajadasa  was  brought  up  as  an  orthodox 
Buddhist,  but  soon  after  his  iheosophical  studies  be- 
gan he  outgrew  orthodoxy.  He  is  a  Theosophist  first, 
and  then  a  Buddhist  only  in  so  far  as  Buddhism  does 
not  contradict  the  truths  of  Theosophy. 

In  1902  he  worked  in 
Italy  for  theosophical 
propaganda,  and  in  1904 
he  came  to  America  to 
work  for  the  American 
Section.  He  is  a  fluent 
speaker  and  presents  a 
broad  cultured  concep- 
tion of  Theosophy.  Com- 
parative Religion  is  one 
of  his  special  studies,  but 
he  is  also  an  eager  stu- 
dent of  the  natural  sci- 
ences. As  a  lover  of  Pla- 
to, Dante,  Wagner  and 
Kuskin,  Mr.  Jinarajada- 
sa's  exposition  of  Theos- 
ophy supplements  the 
work  of  the  other  theosophical  lecturers  and  writers. 

Systematic  Reading.  It  is  undoubtedly  desirable  that 
one  who  wishes  to  study  Theosophy  thoroughly  should 
acquaint  himself  in  the  course  of  time  with  the  whole  of 
the  Theosophical  literature.  This  is  no  light  task;  and 
the  order  in  which  the  books  are  taken  is  of  import- 
ance if  a  man  wishes  to  get  out  of  them  the  best  that 
can  be  got.  But  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  no  order  can  be  prescribed  which  will  be 
equally  suitable  for  every  one;  there  are  those  who 
can  usefully  absorb  information  only  along  devotional 
lines,  and  there  are  those  who  must  have  a  scientific 
and  non-emotional  presentation  of  the  truth.  The  best 
thing  that  I  can  do,  therefore,  is  to  prescribe  such  a 
plan  of  reading  as  I  have  found  to  be  on  the  whole 
120 


THE080PHIC    STUDY 

most    generally   useful,    leaving   room    for    considerable 
variation  to  individual  idiosyncrasies. 

It  seen.  3  to  me  of  great  importance  to  have  a  clear 
outline  of  the  whole  scheme  thoroughly  in  the  mind 
before  endeavoring  to  fill  in  the  details.  No  one  can 
know  how  strong  is  the  evidence  for  any  one  part  of 
the  Theosophical  teaching  until  he  knows  the  whole  of 
that  teaching,  and  sees  how  each  separate  portion  is 
confirmed  and  strengthened  by  the  rest,  and  is  indeed 
a  necessary  part  of  the  scheme  as  a  whole.  My  advice, 
therefore,  would  be  that  the  beginner  should  read  first 
the  elementary  literature,  not  troubling  himself  unduly 
with  details,  but  seeking  rather  to  take  in  and  assim- 
ilate the  broad  ideas  contained  in  it,  so  as  to  see  all 
that  they  imply  and  to  realize  them  as  facts  in  nature, 
thereby  putting  himself  into  what  may  be  called  the 
Theosophical  attitude,  and  learning  to  look  at  every- 
thing from  the  Theosophical  point  of  view.  To  this 
end  the  student  may  take  "An  Outline  of  Theosophy" 
and  various  lectures  by  Mrs.  Besant  and  myself  which 
have  been  issued  as  propaganda  pamphlets.  When  he 
feels  himself  fairly  certain  of  these,  I  should  recommend 
next  Mrs.  Besant's  "Ancient  Wisdom,"  which  will  give 
him  a  clear  idea  of  the  system  as  a  whole.  Another 
book  which  might  be  useful  to  him  at  this  stage  is 
"Some  Glimpses  of  Occultism."  He  can  then  proceed 
to  follow  details  along  whichever  line  most  commends 
itself  to  him.  If  he  is  interested  chiefly  in  the  ethical 
side,  the  best  books  are:  "Light  on  the  Path,"  "The 
Voice  of  the  Silence,"  "The  Doctrine  of  the  Heart,"  "The 
Path  of  Discipleship,"  "In  the  Outer  Court." 

If  he  cares  chiefly  for  the  Christian  presentation  of 
these  truths,  the  best  books  are:  "Esoteric  Christianity," 
"The  Christian  Creed,"  "Fragments  of  a  Faith  For- 
gotten," "The  Perfect  Way." 

If  he  is  interested  in  studying  the  life  after  death 
he  will  find  what  he  wants  in:  "The  Other  Side  of 
Death,"  "The  Astral  Plane."  "The  Devachanic  Plane," 
"Death  and  After." 

121 


A   PRIMER  OF  THE080PEY 

If  he  is  approaching  the  matter  from  the  scientific 
side  ,  Mr.  Sinnett's  books  will  suit  him:  "Esoteric 
Buddhism,"  "The  Growth  of  the  Soul,"  "Nature's  Mys- 
teries," and  also  Dr.  Marques's  "Scientific  Corrobora- 
tions of  Theosophy." 

If  he  cares  for  the  study  of  comparative  religion  he 
should  read:  "Four  Great  Religions,"  "The  Great  Law,** 
"The  Bhagavad-Gita,"  "Hints  on  the  Study  of  the 
Bhagavad-Gita,"  *The  Upanishats,"  "The  Wisdom  of 
the  Upanishats,"  "Avataras,"  "The  Three  Paths  and 
Dharma,"  "The  Light  of  Asia,"  "A  Buddhist  Cate- 
chism," "An  Advanced  Textbook  of  Hindu  Religion  and 
Ethics." 

The  student  who  is  interested  in  applying  Theosophy 
to  the  world  of  modern  thought,  and  to  political  and 
social  questions  may  profitably  turn  to:  "Some  Prob- 
lems of  Life,"  "Theosophy  and  Human  Life,"  "Occult 
Essays,"  "Theosophy  and   the  New  Psychology." 

If  he  is  interested  in  investigating  the  origins  and 
early  history  of  Christianity,  in  addition  to  the  books 
on  Christianity  already  mentioned,  Mr.  Mead's  works 
will  specially  appeal  to  him:  "Did  Jesus  Live  B.C.  100?" 
"The  Gospel  and  the  Gospels,"  "Thrice-Greatest 
Hermes,"  "Orpheus,"  "Plotinus." 

If,  as  is  the  case  with  most  enquirers,  his  main 
interest  centers  round  the  wider  knowledge  and  the 
grasp  of  life  resulting  from  a  study  of  occultism,  he 
should  read  in  addition  to  many  of  the  books  men- 
tioned above:  "A  Study  on  Consciousness,"  "An  Intro- 
duction to  Yoga,"  "Clairvoyance,"  "Dreams,"  "Invisible 
Helpers,"  "Man,  Visible  and  Invisible,"  "Thought  Forms," 
'•The  Evolution  of  Life  and  Form,"  "Thought  Power, 
Its  Control  and  Culture." 

It  will  be  desirable  that  he  should  comprehend  the 
subjects  dealt  with  in  the  manuals  on  "Reincarnation," 
"Karma,"  "Man  and  His  Bodies." 

Indeed,  these  should  be  taken  at  an  early  stage  of 
his  reading.     The  earnest  student,  who  intends  to  live 

122 


BOOKS  FOR  BEGINNER8 

Theosophy  as  well  as  merely  study  it  intellectually, 
should  also  have  knowledge  of  the  inner  purpose  of  the 
Theosophical  Society.  He  will  gain  this  from  Mrs. 
Besant's  "London  Lectures  of  1907,"  as  well  as  from 
the  study  of  Col.  Olcott's  "Old  Diary  Leaves,"  and  Mr. 
Sinnett's  "Occult  World"  and  "Incidents  in  the  Life  of 
Madame  Blavatsky." 

I,  myself,  think  that  the  greatest  book  of  all,  Madame 
Blavatsky's  "Secret  Doctrine,"  should  be  left  until  all 
these  others  have  been  thoroughly  assimilated,  for  the 
man  who  comes  to  it  thus  thoroughly  prepared  will 
gain  from  it  far  more  than  is  otherwise  possible.  I 
know  that  many  students  prefer  to  take  it  at  an  earlier 
stage,  but  it  seems  to  me  more  an  encyclopedia  or  book 
of  reference. 

The  course  I  have  indicated  above  means  some  years 
of  hard  reading  for  the  ordinary  man,  but  one  who  has 
achieved  it  and  tries  to  put  into  practice  what  he  has 
learnt,  will  certainly  be  in  a  position  to  afiford  much 
help  to  his  fellow  men.  C.  W.  L. 

Beginners  are  urged  to  commence  their  consideration 
of  Theosophy  with  the  study  of  such  fundamental  icorks^ 
as  "An  Outline  of  Theosophy,"  "Mam,  and  His  Bodies," 
''The  Astral  Plane,"  "The  Other  Side  of  Death"  or  "Some 
Glimpses  of  Occultism." 

There  are  sections  of  the  Society  in  America,  Great 
Britain,  India,  Australia,  Scandinavia,  New  Zealand, 
The  Netherlands,  France,  Italy,  Germany,  Cuba,  Hun- 
gary, Finland,  Russia  and  Bohemia.  In  South  America 
and  South  Africa  are  presidential  agents.  Members  of 
the  Theosophical  Society  living  in  other  countries  are 
attached  officially  directly  to  the  headquarters  at  Adyar. 
The  lodges  of  the  American  Section  are  located  in  the 
following  cities:  Akron,  Ohio;  Albany,  New  York;  Ana- 
conda, Mont.;  Austin,  Texas;  Berkeley,  Cal.;  Boston, 
Mass.;  Brooklvn,  N.  Y.;  Buffalo,  N.  Y.;  Butte,  Mont.; 
Chicago,   m.j    Cleveland,   0.;    Danvers,   Mass.;    Denver, 

123 


A    PRIMER   OF  THEOSOPHY 

Colo.;  Detroit,  Mich.;  Duluth,  Minn.;  Freeport,  111.; 
Fremont,  Neb.;  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.;  Great  Falls, 
Mont.;  Helena,  Mont.;  Holyoke,  Mass.;  Honolulu,  H.  L; 
Jackson,  Mich.;  Joplin,  Mo.;  Kansas  City,  Mo.;  Kansas 
City,  Kan.;  Lima,  Ohio;  Lincoln,  Neb.;  Long  Beach, 
Cal.;  Los  Angeles,  Cal.;  Louisville,  Ky.;  Melrose  High- 
lands, Mass.;  Minneapolis,  Minn.;  Montreal,  Can.; 
Muskegon,  Mich.;  Newark,  N.  J.;  Newton  Highlands, 
Mass.;  New  Orleans,  La.;  New  York,  N.  Y.;  Norfolk, 
Va.;  Oakland,  Cal.;  Pasadena,  Cal.;  Philadelphia,  Pa.; 
Pierre,  So.  Dak.;  Pittsburg,  Pa.;  Portland,  Ore.;  Roches- 
ter, N.  Y.;  Saginaw,  Mich.;  San  Francisco,  Cal.;  San 
Diego,  Cal.;  Santa  Cruz,  Cal.;  Santa  Rosa,  Cal.;  St.- 
Joseph,  Mo.;  St.  Paul,  Minn.;  Seattle,  Wash.;  Sheridan, 
Wyo.;  Spokane,  Wash.;  Springfield,  Mass.;  Superior, 
Wis.;  Syracuse,  N.  Y.;  Tacoma,  Wash.;  Toledo,  Ohio; 
Topeka,  Kan.;  Toronto,  Can.;  Vancouver,  B.  C;  Vic- 
toria, B.  C;  Washington,  D.  C;  Wilmette,  111. 


Theosophic  books  may  be  purchased  from  several 
book  i!oncerns,  notices  of  which  are  to  be  fund  in 
Messenger.  The  following  periodicals  are  issued  directly 
in  the  interest  of  theosophy:  English:  The  Theosophist; 
Adyar  Bulletin;  The  Vahan;  Theosophy  in  India;  Cen- 
tral Hindu  College  Magazine;  Theosophy  in  Australia; 
Theosophy  in  New  Zealand;  The  Theosophic  Messenger; 
The  Message  of  Theosophy;  S.  African  Bulletin;  Tlie 
Lotus  Journal.  French:  Le  Bulletin  Theosophique; 
Les  Annales  Theosophique;  Theosophie.  Bulgarian: 
The  Path.  Swedish:  Teosofisk  Tidskrift.  Spannish: 
Sophia  Revista  Teosofica;  La  Verdad;  Virya;  Sophia; 
Bhakti  Cyan:  Revista  Teosofica.  Dutch:  Theosophia; 
De  Gulden  Keten;  Theosophisch  Haandblad:  De  Theo- 
sofische  Beweging.  Italian:  Ultra;  II  Bollettino.  Ger- 
man: Metaphysiche  Rundschau;  New  Lotus  Blueten; 
Lucifer-Gnosis;  Mitteilungen.  Finnish:  Tietaja.  Hun- 
garian:    Azelet.     Russian:     The    Theosophical    Review. 


124 


There  are  human  leings  who  do  not  care 
to  walk  along  the  road  that  has  been  made 
by  the  troubles  and   toils  of  others.     They 
claim  the  icork  of  the  pioneer  to  cut  through 
the  jungle,  to  make  the  road  for  others,  to 
move  away   the  stones  that  would  cut   the 
feet  of  others,  making  the  road  on  which  the 
weaker  souls  and  hearts  may  walk.     That 
is    our    only    attraction,    the   spirit    of    the 
-pioneer.     We  attract  those  who  icant  to  do 
the  luork  in  order  that  others  may  be  the 
letter    for    their    icorUng,    those    who    are 
willing  to  struggle,  to  suffer,  to  have  their 
oicn  feet  cut  by  the  sharp  rocks,  tn  order 
that  the  ivay  may  be  made  smooth  so  that 
other  feet  may  walk  uninjured,  unharmed. 
That  is  the  only  attraction  to  come  into  this 
little  spiritual   society   that   is   striving   to 
make    the    ivorkers    for    the    future.      Only 
those  who   hear   that  voice  in   the  silence, 
summoning  all  to  help  who  are  willing  to 
help,    only    they    will    spring    forward   and 
say:     "Here  am  I;  send  me  ichere  there  is 
work   to    be   done.     Let   my   hands   be    the 
hands  of  a  worker;"   that  our  only  prize, 
that  our  only  reward. 

But  of  all  the  rewards  which  earth  can 
offer,  of  all  the  croicns  with  which  humanity 
crowns  her  children,  I  know  of  none  so  at- 
tractive, I  know  of  none  that  raises  such 
passionate  enthusiasm,  as  the  permission  to 
work  that  others  may  enjoy,  the  permission 
to  labor  that  others  may  have  rest;  that 
splendid  work,  ichich  proclaims  the  future 
while  the  difficulties  of  the  present  are  upon 
us  and  in  the  darkest  midnight  proclaims 
the  dawn,  and  has  faith  in  the  sun  rising  to 
dissipate  the  darkness  of  the  night.      A.  B. 


'  The  last  word  of  Theosophy  is  the  spirit 
of  brotherhood.  'None  should  he  happy  and 
content  while  one  is  miserable  and  degraded. 
None  should  feel  himself  healthy  and  strong 
while  one  is  diseased  and  deformed.  We 
are  all  of  one  life.  We  are  all  of  one  love. 
Poor  and  rich,  iceaJc  and  strong,  ice  are  one 
humanity  and  we  sink  or  rise  together.  Be- 
lieve not  that  by  retiring  to  your  own 
wealthy  and  happy  homes  amd  closing  your 
windows  against  the  misery  of  the  wretched 
you  insure  for  yourselves  a  happy  and  peace- 
ful life.  There  is  no  peace  while  one  jnan, 
woman  or  child  is  living  in  misery  and  des- 
titution. There  is  oyily  one  life,  theirs  and 
ours  alike,  and  only  as  we  strive  for  the  re- 
demption of  human  misery  and  the  defense 
of  the  weak  and  the  miserable,  only  then 
can  we  hope  to  be  recognized  as  fellow- 
workers  with  nature  in  that  great  army 
of  the  redeemers  of  the  world,  to  ivhom 
God  and  the  teachers  look  as  their  human 
instruments  to  do  in  the  physical  world  that 
which  is  essentially  their  right,  their  duty, 
and  if  they  only  knew  it,  their  highest  hap- 
piness and  their  supreme  fruit.         A.  B. 


A    PRIMER   OF  TREO SOPHY 

JOINING   THE    SOCIETY— THE   FORMATION    Ot    ^ 

LODGE. 

Seven  or  more  persons  who  are  already  members,  or 
intend  to  become  charter  members  of  the  lodge  may 
apply  for  a  charter.  All  applicants  who  are  already 
members  of  lodges  must  send  demits  from  the  lodges 
they  are  leaving.  The  headquarters  will  forward  to 
those  desiring  to  form  a  lodge  a  charter  application 
form.  This  form  must  be  filled  out  by  inserting  the 
proposed  names  of  the  lodge  and  the  city  in  which  it 
is  to  be  located.  Applications  for  charters  are  passed 
on  by  the  Executive  Committee.  The  sectional  head- 
quarters are  to  notified  of  the  names  and  addresses  of 
the  officers  elected.  Suitable  by-laws  are  to  be  adopted 
by  lodges  at  their  organization  meeting.  Each  member 
of  the  Section  receives  gratuitously  The  Theosophic 
Messenger,  a  monthly  periodical  issued  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Sectional  Convention.  Upon  his 
admission  the  member  receives  a  sample  copy  of  the 
Theosophist.  A  fee  of  five  dollars  must  accompany  th«* 
application  for  the  charter. 

Study-classes.  The  early  study  of  theosophy  is  diffi- 
cult and  is  usually  best  pursued  in  organized  classes. 
Some  one  who  has  pursued  the  study  for  a  time  brings 
together  a  small  group  and  some  elementary  work  is 
used  as  a  text-book.  A  small  part  of  the  subject-mat- 
ter is  assigned  as  a  text  for  the  work  of  each  hour  of 
meeting.  Teachers  are  advised  not  to  lecture  to  study- 
classes  but  to  lead  them  as  question-meetings  in  which 
the  teacher  endeavors  to  find  and  strengthen  the  weak 
points  in  the  knowledge  of  the  class-members.  In  this 
way  the  peculiarities  and  difficulties  of  the  members 
are  met.  Most  lodges  are  formed  as  a  result  of  the 
work  of  study-classes. 

The  Primer  may  be  used  by  beginners  as  a  class 
text-book,  but  Man  and  His  Bodies,  by  Mrs.  Besant, 
and  The  Astral  Plane,  by  Mr.  Leadbeater,  are  generally 
utilized.  For  later  study  The  Ancient  Wisdom,  by 
Mrs.  Besant,  is  especially  suited. 
127 


A    PRIMER   OF  THEO SOPHY 

How  to  join  the  Theosophical  Society — Send  to  the 
General  Secretary  or  to  the  Secretary  of  any  lodge  for 
a  blank  application  form. 

A  copy  of  the  rules  of  the  Society  will  be  given  the 
applicant  at  the  same  time  if  desired.  They  are  ex- 
tremely simple  and  involve  him  in  no  undesirable  or 
unworthy  obligation. 

Membership  in  a  branch  is  secured  by  obtaining  the 
counter-signature  of  two  of  its  members  who  are  ac- 
quainted with  the  qualifications  of  the  applicant.  The 
very  modest  fees  of  the  society  are  paid,  the  applica- 
tion is  acted  upon  by  the  branch  and  it  is  then  for- 
warded to  the  General  Secretary  who  returns  a  diploma 
of  membership  to  the  new  member. 

Membership-at-large  is  secured  by  signing  and  return- 
ing the  same  form.  With  it  should  be  enclosed  $2.00 
for  entrance -fee,  $1.00  for  annual  dues  for  the  first 
year,  and  50  cents  diploma  fee;  total,  $3.50.  If  the 
applicant  knows  no  members  whose  counter-signatures 
may  be  obtained,  he  should  refer  the  headquarters  to 
two  citizens  of  the  applicant's  neighborhood  who  vouch 
for  his  character.  Their  testimony  will  justify  the 
oflSce  in  securing  the  signatures  of  two  members  of  the 
Society.  These  being  affixed,  the  General  Secretary  will 
admit  and  enroll  the  applicant  as  a  member-at-large, 
returning  him  a  diploma. 

Applicants  may  also  be  admitted  as  members-at-large 
by  Presidents  of  Branches  upon  the  same  conditions, 
the  President  sending  the  completed  application  to  Head- 
quarters. 

The  annual  dues  are  payable  each  January  first,  and 
a  notice-card  is  sent  to  members-at-large  from  the 
headquarters. 

Members-at-large  may  join  lodges  at  any  time  upon 
election  to  membership  in  them. 

128 


A  LETTER. 
Dear  Sir: 

The  real  meaning  of  Theosophy  is  only  the  study  of 
all  life,  in  all  forms,  as  one.  The  hkie  flax-flower,  the 
golden-rod  possess  forms  which  our  life,  in  its  segre- 
gated seeming,  ha^s  long  discarded.  Yet  we  feel  as  we 
walk  over  those  glorious  waves  of  Dakota  earth  that,  in 
an  indescribable  way,  we  are  at  one  with  the  spirit  of 
the  scene,  at  one  with  its  life.  Where  is  God — the  All 
— of  Which  we  are  a  part?  He  is  in  our  hearts,  in 
our  life;  He  is  in  the  remainder  of  Nature,  He  is  in 
Himself.  How  may  we  find  Himf  By  the  effort  to 
study  Him,  to  understand  Nature  or  understand  and 
to  be  the  divine  in  ourselves.  All  men  are  consciously 
or  unconsciously  seeking  God.  The  most  God-like  of 
God's  creatures  that  we  may  study  is  Man.  The 
shortest  way  to  God  is  by  going  into  our  hearts,  finding 
the  laws  of  the  growth  of  our  life  and  obeying  those 
lanvs. 

Theosophy  tells  openly  in  printed  words  to  all  men 
the  gross  outlines  of  The  Path  by  which  they  may 
attain  to  a  conscious  union  with  God. 

What  can  you  dot  Read  the  book  I  send  to  em- 
phasize the  idea  of  the  flow  of  life  through  forms. 

Read  other  books  and  finally  the  idea  of  the  evolu- 
tion of  life  will  seem  as  inevitable  to  you  a«  is  that  of 
forms  to  our  scientists. 

When  will  you  feel  that  you  are  a  theosophistf  It 
will  be'  when  you  feel  that  what  I  have  said  about 
unity  is  the  inevitable  and  only  all-inclusive  truth. 
This  concept  of  the  universe  as  God  at  one  with 
and  embracing  His  Nature  and  His  more  conscious 
children  must  be  fully  apprehended  at  the  outset. 

When  will  you  gain  consciousness  of  unity  with  Godf 
In  minor  ways  now.  You  do  it  when  with  a  thrill  of 
love  for  the  flax-bell  you  feel  your  unity  with  it.  Again 
when  the  soul  is  uplifted  by  music,  a  lecture,  the  regard 
of  a  friend,  sympathy  for  humanity — then  you  feel  the 
vague  stirring  of  the  Divine  Babe  loithin. 

When  will  you  know  God  in  your  strength?  When 
you  have  grown  to  manhood's  stature.  Now  man,  unth 
jutit  a  touch  of  the  undeveloped  superman,  you  vnll 
know  God  in  His  true  likeness  only  when  you  are  more 
than   man — superman. 

Meantime,  to-day,  how  can  you  draw  breath — what 
inducement   to   live  does  the  theosophist  suggest  your 

129 


pu/rsuing  tJiat  your  days  need  not  succeed  each  other 
in  gathering  horror?  Seek  the  loay  to  Ood  as  you 
pnd  it  suits  you.  We  have  been  satisfied  icith  theo- 
sophic  philosophy  and  its  hope.  And  DO — that  which 
your  hand  finds  to  do — in  the  spirit  of  offering  a  gift  to 
God  uith  each  act.  For  it  is  the  law  that  ichat  we  do 
for  God  redounds  to  the  blessing  of  the  world,  and  we 
may  then  live  in  the  joy  of  Him  Whom  we  serve. 

W.  V-H. 

THE   CHRIST'S  SECOND   COMING. 

When  we  sz>eak  of  the  Christ  we  theosophists  mean 
Him  to  Whom  others  refer  when  that  wondrous  word 
is  used  though  we  know  that  there  are  many  Christs 
if  we  use  the  term  in  the  generic  sense.  But  He  who 
once  came  before  men  to  deliver  that  message  of  His 
which  should  be  the  religion  of  myriads  of  men  in 
western  incarnation  is  for  us,  too.  The  Christ  and  He 
it  is  who  shall  one  day  be  a  Christ  for  all  the  loorld. 

Soon  he  shall  come  again  as  has  long  been  foretold; 
soon,  in  a  third  or  half  a  century,  He  shall  come  and 
move  among  us,  even  here  in  America,  lo  prepare  a 
neiu  religion,  to  give  a  new  message  to  men. 

This  seems  a  necessity  even  to  us  who  see  but  par- 
tially. Men  are  divided  in  thought,  in  feeling.  They 
are  no  longer  satisfied  to  be  either  churchmen  or  athe- 
ists, hut  are  beginning  to  contact  God  vaguely,  uncer- 
tainly, in  many  ways  as  is  planned  by  the  Wise  Broth- 
ers. In  all  arts,  in  all  crafts,  in  all  sciences,  in  all 
researches,  in  the  touch  with  the  unseen  icorld  which 
has  been  granted  by  so  many  agencies,  God  is  being 
revealed  anew  to  humanity.  Many  and  various  sign- 
posts point  toward  Him,  but  the  revelation  is  never 
quite  complete  except  when  an  Avatar  is  with  us.  Then 
all  things  are  made  clear — the  curtain  is  for  a  moment 
raised  and  men  by  thousands — fortunate  to  be  incarnate! 
— for  that  instant  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  supernal, 
sense  the  reality  of  the  super-physical  worlds. 

And  ivhat  preparations  have  been  made  in  hea/ven 
for  that  coming!  How  the  Brothers  must  rejoice  that 
the  long  period  of  waiting  is  nearly  over,  that  the 
difficulties  to  be  encountered  have  been — almost  all  of 
them — overcome;  that  the  thought-forms  of  centuries 
have  been  well  utilized;  that  the  men  appointed  to  do 
certain  work  have  performed  their  tasks  and  that  the 
world  that  They  love  so  icell  and  for  which  They  have 

130 


borne  so  much,  may  move  on  by  a  great  step  amd  that 
something  more  of  certitude,  something  more  of  hope 
for  life  beyond  the  limitations  of  the  flesh  may  really 
he  hoped  for  by  the  Children  of  God! 

Sixty  thousand  millions  of  souls!  What  a  vgst  num- 
ber to  be  thought  of,  to  be  classified,  to  be  watched, 
each  one  to  be  put  back  in  the  physical  world  in  proper 
place  and  time.  Yet  the  power  and  love  of  the  Almighty 
and  Bis  Sons  is  adequate.  And  the  new  era  that  will 
come  will  be  filled  with  good  changes.  For  we  are  now 
to  icork  on  the  easier  path  of  the  upward  evolutional 
trend  and  hope  icill  grow  with  the  increasing  years. 

What  a  rejoicing  there  will  be  ichen  He  comes!  We 
the  told  that  when  the  Savior's  Blessing  is  given  the 
world,  the  very  trees  and  grass  are  made  happier.  Their 
leaves  and  fronds  stand  up  filled  with  the  reviving  life- 
forces.  The  sacred  word  resounds  more  clearly  through 
all  nature. 

At  each  recurring  season  of  the  Lord's  appearing, 
we  feel  the  sweet  influence  all  about  and  through.  Think 
joyous  thoughts,  send  out  feelings  of  hope  to  men. 
Great  Ones  come  to  prepare  the  way.  Mighty  organi- 
zations of  men  are  formed  and  manipulated  to  make 
all  ready!  In  joyful  anticipation,  we  may  reiterate 
the  siceet,   old  cry, 

''Peace  on  Earth,  good-will  toward  men." 

Anthem   from   "The  White   Lotus." 
(An    unpublished    mask.) 

In    all   hearts    glows 
Some   spark   of  life   divine.     Seek  ye  that   fire! 
Deep   in  the  heart   it   lies — fire  of  Love's   sacrifice, 
Oft  hidden  by  man's   ignorance   'neath   earthly  jovs. 

Christ    in    all    hearts! 
II. 

Servant    of    God's    love, 
Sensa,   shalt   ever   be;    Christ  now   is   born   in   thee! 
Brothers    stood   all   about   as    thou   wert   slain, 
Brothers  of  the  holy   Grail,   born  long  ago. 

Seek    Christ    within! 

m. 

All   men   shall   seek    Christ! 
First  see  they  Him   far  oflf  in  ancient   times. 
Seek  for  surcease    of   sorrow,    kneel   at  His   feet. 
Sacrifice   they   offer   Him   of   their  hearts'    fire! 

Christ    born    within! 

IV. 

Joy   in   Christ's   service 
Shall  all  men  find!     Peace  sacred  shall  they  know 
In   the  universal  Law,   tending  God's  altar  fires. 
New  joys  forever  Master  gives  without.    In   God's   image 

Christ    grows    within. 

— W.    V-H. 

131 


To  each  temperament  there  is  one  road  which 
seems  the  most  desirable.  But  the  icay  is  not 
found  by  devotion  alone,  by  religious  contempla- 
tion alone,  by  ardent  progress,  by  se^f-sacrificing 
labor 3  by  studious  observation  of  life.  None 
alone  can  take  the  disciple  more  than  one  step 
onwards.  All  steps  are  necessary  to  make  up 
the  ladder.  The  vices  of  men  become  steps  in 
the  ladder,  one  by  one,  as  they  are  surmounted. 
The  virtues  of  man  are  steps  indeed,  necessary 
— not  by  any  means  to  be  diyyensed  icith.  Yet, 
though  they  create  a  fair  limosphere  and  a 
happy  future,  they  are  useies-s  if  they  stand 
alone.  The  tchole  nature  of  man  must  be  used 
icisely  by  the  one  icho  desires  to  enter  the  way. 
Each  man  is  to  himself  absoluteirj  the  toay,  the 
truth  and  the  life.  But  he  is  only  so  when  he 
grasps  his  whole  individualify  prmly,  and  bii 
the  force  of  his  airakened  spiritual  nill,  recog- 
nizes this  individuality  as  not  hi.'iself.  but  that 
thing  which  he  has  with  pain  created  for  his 
own  use,  and  by  means  of  which  he  purposes,  as 
his  growth  slowly  derelops  his  nfelligcnce,  to 
reach  to  the  life  beyond  individuality.  When 
he  knows  that  for  this  his  wonderful  complex 
separated  life  exists,  then,  indeed,  and  then  only, 
he  is  upon  the  icay.  Seek  it  bi/  plunging  into 
the  mysterious  and  glorious  depths  of  your  ou-n 
inmost  being.  Seek  it  by  testing  all  experience. 
by  utilizing  the  senses  in  order  to  understand 
the  growth  and  meaning  of  individuality,  and  the 
beauty  and  obscurity  of  those  other  divine  frag- 
ments which  are  struggling  side  by  side  with 
you.  and  form  the  race  to  ichich  you  belong. 
Seek  it  by  study  of  the  laws  of  being,  the  lair/i 
of  nature,  the  laws  of  the  supernatural :  and 
seek  it  by  making  the  profound  obeisance  of  the 
.^oul  to  the  dim  star  that  burns  icithin.  Steailily, 
as  you  watch  and  worship,  its  light  will  groir 
stronger.  Then  yon  may  knoic  you  have  found 
the  beginning  of  the  way.  And  when  you  han 
found  the  end  its  light  will  suddenly  become  *h< 
infinite  light. 

-  -"Light  on   the   I'ath." 


132 


Date  Due 

N  29  37 

mh-'^i 

Ui^:''  I 

'^'■ti^,!^^^^*'''^ 

«WH?** 

>' 

f 

TJie  American  Section  of  the  Theo- 
sophical  Society  has  ninety-tzvo  lodges 
'.Heated  in  sixty-seven  cities.  They  are 
designated  on  page  123  and  the  name 
and  address  of  the  secretary  of  each 
zcill  be  furnished  by  the  undersigned 
upon  application.  Wherever  it  is  pos- 
sible, enquirers  are  urged  to  have 
personal  interviezi's  zvith  officers  of 
lodges,  zvhose  pleasure  it  is  to  give  in- 
formation in  regard  to  Theosophy.  If 
for  anv  reason  this  is  inconvenient  or 
undesirable  a  competent  correspondent 
residing  as  near  the  enquirer  as  pos- 
sible zvill  be  assigned  to  anszver  all 
questions  and  aid  in  carrying  on  a 
course  of  reading  and  study.  For- 
eigners zvill  be  assigned  to  correspon- 
dents zvho  are  acquainted  zvith  their 
ozvn  language. 

Make    all    further    inquiries    of    the 
General  Secretary  of  the  Section, 
Weller  Van  Hook, 
103  State  Street, 
Chicago,  III.,  U.  S.  A. 


ilii 


Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01015  1977 


